PenJackson: A Traveler For Camp HalfBlood
by Arthur Drakoni
Summary: Halla has changed, there are now places within the territories with travelers of their own and the one form Camp Half Blood is... Silena Beauregard! Can this daughter of Aphrodite rise to the occasion, or will the camp fall to Saint Dane?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone. So after making in thru a good chunk of the awesomeness that is the Pendragon books I decided to combine them in a fic with my other great love Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I'm not sure where this stands within the books timewise but just roll with it. Also I wanted to some experience writing from the female perspective so go easy on me, and without further ado onto the story!**

Journal #1

Second Earth

Hi Clarisse! So I know I've been gone for a few days and you must be wondering where I've been, but don't worry I'll fill you in on all the details; well I've got some cute new cloths, I've been to the most amazing places, and… it turns out I'm part of this group of people who travel across time and space to prevent an evil demon from taking over all of existence! Okay you must be really freaking out so I'm gonna start over, from the begging.

So it all started a few weeks ago reallllly late at night, I woke up in the middle of a realllly good dream, I can't quite remember what it was about though. Anyway, what I do remember happening next is that I felt a hand on my shoulder. When I glanced up I first thought it was Percy, I mean the guy looked almost exactly like him, but no he wasn't Percy.

For one thing Percy has black hair and sea-green eyes, but this guy had brown hair and brown eyes, but all the same he did bear a strong resemblance to Percy, and he was wearing a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and blue jeans.

"Okay who are you and how did you get in Aphrodite cabin, wait I've never seen you before, are you new to camp, did you sneak in…"

"Slow down Silena you're gonna talk me to death at this rate!" laughed the guy, but not too loud for fear he might wake my cabin mates.

"Alright, then start with who are you."

"Pendragon, Bobby Pendragon, lead traveler and the traveler from Second Earth."

"Okay… I have no clue what you just said."

"Look this is going to be a lot to wrap your brain around, but just bear with me for a minute here," said Bobby. I don't know what it was, maybe it was he calming soothing voice, maybe it was his athletic body that was soooo hot, but for whatever reason I listened to Bobby.

"Okay so the first thing you need to know is that there's this thing called Halla, it's every time and every place that's ever existed, and within Halla there are these ten places called territories. So these territories are other planets located in other universes and in other times… well technically First Earth is Earth around 1937, Second Earth is present day Earth, and Third Earth is Earth around 5010, but it works out in some weird way."

"So do you know about the gods and all of that?" I asked.

"It's really more of a recent development, but yes we know about the gods and Greek mythology and all that."

"So who's we, and how do I fit into all of this?" I asked.

"Well like I said you've got the ten territories of Halla, and from each territory you've got a traveler, a person who travels from territory to territory to battle to evil maniac name Saint Dane. See each of the territories is reaching a critical turning point and Saint Dane wants to push it the wrong way so that the territory will be plunged into chaos and he can gain power from that chaos because he wants to rule all of Halla, and as travelers it's our job to make sure the turning points of the territories goes the correct way and stop Saint Dane's evil schemes. Now what we've recently learned is that within each territories there are sub-territories, and they have travelers of their own."

"So the hidden world of Camp Half-Blood and the gods and mythology… that's a sub-territory?"

"Well it wasn't the most original name, I mean you've got ones like the sub-territory of Hogwarts, Harry Potter is the traveler there, and then there's Gallifrey… admittedly we haven't figured out the name of its traveler, he just call himself The Doctor, but cut us some slack we're very busy with Saint Dane and all," said Bobby.

"And you want me to be the traveler from Camp Half-Blood?"

"Silena I now this is a lot to take in…"

"No you don't understand, I may be a half-blood but I suck at fighting, I'm into fashion and makeup and cute guys, my hand-eye coordination is almost no existent, I pride myself on being a girly girl, and there is no way in Hades that I'm going to blast halfway across Halla or whatever it is to fight some guy who is your problem and not mine!" I exclaimed, a little loudly.

The next thing I knew Bobby had one hand on my wrist and the other hand around my mouth and then he dragged my outside my cabin, the look in his eyes somewhere between compassion and rage.

"So you don't have the right stuff to be a traveler eh? Well guess what; when I first started out as a traveler I just an average nothing special kid from Stony Brook, Connecticut, and just look at me now! You're a traveler, look I may be the lead traveler but I barely understand this any more than you do, but for whatever reason we've been chosen and that means we're here for a reason, and that reason is to stop Saint Dane. And you can try to run from it all you like, but the point is eventually Saint Dane will come for Camp Half-Blood, will you be ready when he does?"

Okay that was a whole lot to take in and the way Bobby had said it really drove the point home! I mean my impulse was to refuse and stay at camp and think about cloths, makeup, and guys instead of Halla, travelers, territories, and Saint Dane; yet there was part of me that wanted so much to go, if only to prove to everyone (I'm looking at you hunters of Artemis!) that the children of Aphrodite can actually do more than just look like supermodels, a chance for me to prove to myself that I could actually do something. I guess that was why ultimately I said in a whisper, "Okay, I'll be a traveler for Camp Half-Blood."

Bobby put his hand on my shoulder and smiled warmly, "I guess I was a little harsh there, but believe me this is no game, I've lost many friends to Saint Dane and that number keeps growing by the day. Now before we leave we've got some business to attend to."

Bobby gave me a ring that was like one of those class rings, only this ring was silver and had a gray stone in the center with a bunch of weird symbols around it; Bobby also told me that travelers have these people call acolytes, people from their territories who have to keep the journals travelers send them of their adventures, and acolytes also have to prepare stuff for travelers when they arrive on a territory. Clarisse you're my best friend, I was there for you with Chris Rodriguez and you were always there for me, so in the morning you'll find an acolytes ring on your bed stand and maybe this journal too. So before we left I packed a few cloths and some makeup (okay it was a lot, but I'm an Aphrodite girl, it's in the description) into the magic suitcase my mom Aphrodite gave me as a gift.

Remember the one I have that can fit all that stuff into it and then shrink so small it can fit into your pocket, well that's the one I used.

"Okay Bobby I'm ready!" I called in a sing-song voice.

"Hobey Ho let's go… that's an expression my friend Spader uses, he's from Cloral, the motor cycle's not too far from the camp entrance on that road next to the top of the hill over there," said Bobby.

"You know how to drive a motorcycle?" I asked.

"Well they don't exactly have driver's ed. class on Eelong, Zadaa, and Quillan… well pretty much none of the territories except the Earth territories, I drove a car on First Earth once, and I got here in one piece didn't I?"

"That's true… wait what are Eelong, Zadda, and Quillan?"

"Territories," said Bobby as he tossed me a helmet, and I'm not sure how he knew but Bobby had gotten a hot pink helmet just for me!

Okay I'd really not like to conjure up the memory of the motorcycle ride into New York, but Bobby says I have to record everything in these journals so here goes. Well right off the bat Bobby was driving on the wrong side of the road! I mean come on where did he think we were England or something?

As if that weren't bad enough Bobby would do things like take turns at full speed, slam the brake just barely in time to avoid a wreck, and generally do thing that made me pray to every god and goddess I could think of, but especially to Hermes and my mom. In order to keep myself from having a heart attack I asked Bobby some questions to pass the time.

"So why are we going to New York again?" I shouted over the rush of the wind.

"It's where one of the two flumes on Second Earth is located, it's in an abandoned subway in the Bronx; see the flumes allow travelers to move between territories, just shout out the name of the territory you want to travel to and you're off," replied Bobby.

Eventually the ride from Tartarus was over and we were in the Bronx next to an old abandoned subway station like Bobby had said, but it seemed like we'd gotten to the city faster than we should have (of course I had had my eyes closed for most of the trip). We had to travel along the edge of the subway track so we wouldn't get shock by the third rail or something like that, but still even if we were safe I was seriously going to kill Bobby if the grim on the wall messed up my outfit. Eventually we came to a door that had a star on it.

"Okay that's weird, the quigs are usually here by now," said Bobby.

"Quigs?" I asked nervously.

"Horrible beast that Saint Dane uses to guard the flumes, they look different depending on what territory you're on, and on Second Earth they're monster dogs."

"Oh…" I squeaked.

When we got inside it was like a never ending tunnel made of grey stone, not really sure how this was gonna get us half way across the universe but okay.

"Alright this is it, now since I'm giving you a crash course in being a traveler I'll take you to where I got my start on… Denduron!"

The instant Bobby shouted the name of the territory the walls of the flume turned to see-through crystal, beyond which I could see a field of stars that took my breath away, and soon I could feel an invisible energy pulling Bobby and me deeper into the flume and off to a new world.

**So what did you think? I know it was short but I'll improve in future chapters, and please review! **


	2. Chapter 2

Journal #1, continued

Denduron

As soon as the flume pulled us in I could hear a sweet jumble of musical notes that weren't to any particular tune, and soon we were taken in by a bright light and it was like Bobby and I were in space, and not just because of the breath taking cosmos beyond the walls of the flume. We were actually floating in air weightlessly, and it was amazing!

"Is it always like this amazing?" I laughed as I did a summersault in the air.

"Yeah basically," laughed Bobby, enjoying himself as much as I was.

As we continued to sail through the flume I noticed ghostly images floating among the stars; there was one of a knight on horseback, another showed someone in a wetsuit on some kind of water speeder, I even saw one that looked like that blimp-thingy that blew-up like a million years ago (I forget what it was called), and there were a whole bunch of other images I can't even begin to describe. Anywho after a while I could see a light coming just ahead of us and slowly the gravity started to return.

"Okay get ready, this is our stop," said Bobby.

The flume placed us down gently and soon the music and light faded and the walls turned back into grey stone; the very first thing I noticed about Denduron was that it was really cold! As I looked out of the cave we had landed in I realized that we were on top of a snow cover mountain… oh and apparently Denduron has three suns! No seriously, in the sky at varying positions was not one sun but three!

"Okay so if Denduron has three suns shouldn't it be really hot, not freezing cold?" I asked.

"Well best I can figure Denduron's not as close to them as Second Earth is to its sun, now put these on," said Bobby as he tossed me a pile of cloths that looked like they were right out of the Dark Ages, literally.

"Thanks, but I think I should be the fashion consultant on this trip, you know since I'm a daughter of the goddess of beauty and all."

"No you have to put them on, I know they aren't exactly Grouchy or Prada but one of the rules of being a Traveler is that you cannot mix the territories under any circumstances, the only exception being undergarments… it's kind of breaking the rules, but all I'm saying is if the faith of Halla is determined by whether or not I was wearing boxers then we're all in deep shit."

"But why can't we mix them just this once?" I pleaded.

"Because the last time I mixed the territories on Denduron it nearly lead to Saint Dane winning the territory, and then there was this time on Eelong… look I don't want to get into the details, just put on the cloths and leave anything you brought with you from Second Earth at the flume," said Bobby.

"Fine, but I won't like it!" I shouted.

"Would you care for some cheese with that whine dear princess?" shot back Bobby, he even gave a mock-bow just to drive it home.

Okay I guess my Denduron cloths weren't that bad… by medieval standards! It wasn't much, just a dress with some weird blue gems sewn into it, a fur coat, and leather boots with fur on the inside and around the edges (and yes I made sure Pendragon wasn't looking when I changed, rest assured). Even though Bobby had said it was against the rules to mix the territories there was no way I was going anywhere without my makeup, and hair supplies, and there was no way in Tartarus I was leaving my wardrobe at the flume! My magical suitcase was just small enough to fit into my coat pocket, and while Bobby wasn't looking I slipped it in.

"Okay you can turn around now," I said as nonchalantly as possible.

Bobby had changed into Denduron clothing as well and looked kind of like a medieval peasant, and while he had been changing I had caught of glimpse of his well-defined abs and… well they were hot.

"Well, well, now you actually look the part eh princess," teased Bobby.

"Oh whatever Pendragon! So where exactly are we going and how are we getting there?"

Bobby patted a sled that looked like it was made in the Stone Age and smiled, "I rode this when I first came to Denduron, and as long as we watch out for the trees and rock… and quigs, we should be fine, plus since Saint Dane lost on Denduron the quigs should be gone."

"And the quigs on Denduron are…"

"Giant prehistoric looking bears with spikes coming out of their backs."

"Oh," I said kind of wishing I hadn't asked.

The sled ride down the mountain was actually more fun than I thought it would have been (as long as I didn't think about quigs that is), it kind of reminded me of last Christmas when daddy took me on that surprise trip to that super cute ski resort in Aspin… well my clothes were defiantly cuter on that trip. So we were just about down the mountain when I felt a sharp jolt and soon the sled went airborne.

"Oh damn, forgot about that rock!" shouted Bobby just before we smacked into the ground.

I remember landed hard on the ground next to the broken sled and thinking about how I should have felt more pain than I did, and then I blacked out. When I woke up I remember how everything hurt and how every moment was painful; as I winced with pain I realized I was in some kind of mud hut that felt as medieval of my cloths, in the doorway I could see the silhouette of someone.

"Pendragon?" I called weakly.

"Hey princess, looks like you're tougher than you seem."

I smiled weakly and amazingly I was able to lean forwards without much effort, just like that!

"So you wouldn't happen to have any ambrosia and nectar would you?" I asked hopefully.

"Afraid not, they're from Second Earth and you know what I said about mixing the territories," said Bobby.

"Oh, that figures," I muttered to myself.

"However, as a Traveler your healing factor is considerably faster than a normal human… well you are a demigoddess so you may heal even faster for all we know."

"You're right! I should have broken a bunch of bones from that fall but know I feel a little sore, but otherwise perfectly fine," I said in astonishment.

"Good, now I can introduce you to the local Traveler from Denduron, hey Alder she's feeling better now!" said Bobby.

The first thing I noticed about Alder was that he was big, not fat but very tall and everything from his head to his fingers was big, he was wearing leather armor and the sword and leather whip on his belt defiantly completed the knight look; Alder defiantly wasn't much for looks, but he seem sweet and kind of cute like he was a big puppy. Another thing I noticed about Alder was that he was blushing the minute he laid eyes on me.

"Oh my! I knew you said she was very beautiful Pendragon, but know that I see her for myself… wow!" said Alder, who was as red as a tomato.

"Aw you really think I'm pretty Alder?" I said as sweetly as possible while batting my eyes.

This made Alder turn even redder than before and he started making a nervous giggling noise.

Bobby just chuckled and rolled his eyes, "Come on lover boy, we have to show Silena around the village."

"Huh? Oh right! I will get on that immediately!"

As soon as we made it out side it felt like I was stepping back into the Middle Ages, or at least into a Renaissance Fair, because even though I didn't really pay much attention in history class this place defiantly had a medieval vive to it. Yet I could still see signs of modern conveniences, like how all the buildings had these pipes that made some sort of artificial light, I could see metal stoves in some of the houses, and I swore I heard flushing toilets and running water.

"You see before Pendragon came the Bedoowan, that is the tribe I belong too, had enslaved the Milago and treated them worse than animals, the Milago were forced to mine glaze in dangerous mine shafts that contained a deadly poison, and if the Milago did not mine enough glaze one of them was killed at random by being thrown down a hole in the ground that was as deep as the shafts," explained Alder.

"That's horrible! So what role did Saint Dane play in all of this?"

"He disguised himself as himself both Mallos, the advisor to Queen Kagen, as well as a Milago named Figgis, and as Figgis he tried to convince the Milago to use an explosive mineral called tak to fight the Bedoowan," explained Bobby.

"But wouldn't that have helped them?"

"It would… but it would have also completely destroyed the Milago village."

"Oh… so gone on, how'd it all get fixed?"

"With the help of Loor, she's the Traveler from Zadaa, we were able to dissolve enough of the tak so that the Milago were saved; however the Bedoowan castle was destroyed, that pile of ruins on the edge of the cliff used to be it, and after they lost their home the Bedoowan agreed to end the harsh treatment of the Milago and together they've built a brighter future for all of Denduron," said Bobby.

"So just a question, how come when I first got here it sounded like everyone was speaking gibberish but now I can understand everyone perfectly fine?" I asked.

"It is another Traveler ability, we Travelers here every language as our own native language and speak in whatever language is required for us to be understood, we also see all written languages as our native language," explained Alder.

Finally, a Traveler skill that was actually useful rather than a complete drag, and if what Alder said was true then my dyslexia was about to get a whole lot easier to deal with. Suddenly a bunch of children ran up to us and clung to Alder for dear life, the look in their eyes was of pure terror and panic.

"Children what is the matter?" asked Alder.

"We were playing in the wood and fun and game… but then… but then…"

"But then a horrible beast attacked us! It cared at us with those horrible, horrible horns, those evil red eyes, and it tried to eat us like it's been eating people in the village every night!"

"This serious, but whatever it is it's defiantly not a quig, those always have yellow eyes," said Bobby.

"Well that good… if only slightly so," I whimpered.

"If it is the beast that has plagued the village… Silena have you hear of a beast called the Minotaur?" asked Alder.

"Well of course I… wait a minute you can't seriously think that…"

"Stranger things have happened in Halla, come we have a drawing of the beast in the village square," said Alder.

I crossed my fingers hopping for some small glimmer of hope that it wouldn't be true, but the instant I took a look at the poster all my hopes were dashed.

"But that can't be, what's a Minotaur doing on Denduron?" I asked in bewilderment.

"Maybe the sub-territories have caused fundamental changes in the forces of Halla… but then again Saint Dane isn't above mixing the territories, his whole attempt on Eelong and Quillan were based around that," said Bobby.

"But if we're going to defeat the Minotaur we'll need Celestial Bronze, and they don't have that on Denduron!" I said.

"Tell me is this Celestial Bronze an amber color that seems to radiate energy and strength?" asked Alder.

"Sure but… wait why do you ask?"

Alder broke out in a huge smile, "Because on Denduron we call that Sky Bronze!"

I'm going to end the journal here Clarisse. I know it's not much but Bobby told me I had to write down all that's happened so far and send it to you because I might not get a chance to write again for a while. Alder has found some Celestial Bronze (no clue what it's doing on Denduron either but okay) and we're going to attempt to make a few weapons before taking on the Minotaur, it hasn't attack in a few nights so that means it'll be coming soon… oh and Bobby and Alder are going to try and train me by then! I know what you're thinking, me in a fight, so unnatural, but (unfortunately) Bobby says this is the way it was meant to be, it's like an unofficial motto of the Travelers and I don't like it one bit.

Wish me the best of luck; I'm defiantly going to need it. I don't know if you'll be able to, but by now daddy must be worried sick from my lack of letters, I don't know how to explain this to him, just think of something and I'll tell him myself when the time is right. And Clarisse look after Charlie, he… well you know how much he means to me. So in the words of Bobby Pendragon, and so we go.

End of Journal #1

**It may be the end of Journal #1 but Silena's journey is far from over. In the next chapter we'll catch-up with Clarisse at Camp Half-Blood, and so we go. Please review :)**


	3. Chapter 3

Second Earth

"… and so we go." As she stood in the Ares cabin with an acolyte's ring on her finger and Silena's first Traveler journal in her hands Clarisse La Rue couldn't believe what she had just read. It had to be real, the ring and journal had been on her nightstand, Silena was nowhere to be found, yet her mind just couldn't except that it was all true.

Clarisse figured that it would be pointless to ask around about flumes, Travelers, territories, and evil demons named Saint Dane unless she wanted to be locked up on a funny farm (which she assumed would not be so funny), but she could ask about the possibility of other worlds, other universes, at least then she might be able to make sense of it all. She knew she was going to need someone with brains, and the Athena cabin was the best place to go for brain power. As she made her way over to Athena cabin, trying her best to hide to whirlwind of emotions she was feeling, Clarisse was greeted by the trotting of hooves and those hooves belong to none other than the camp activity director Chiron.

"Why hello Clarisse, is everything alright?" asked Chiron.

"Huh? Oh hey Chiron! Uh… yeah I'm cool," lied Clarisse.

Chiron just stood there for a minute, look at her with his warm eyes, yet with a concerned look on his face.

"Well if you say so, but Clarisse I want you to know that if anything is ever bothering you, you can always come talk to me about it no matter what it is."

For a minute Clarisse considered weather Chiron was in on the business of Travelers and Halla all of it, but she quickly decided against saying anything.

"I'll remember that Chiron, but I must be on my way to Athena cabin, got a question for Annabeth… uh bye!" said Clarisse before darting off.

When she got to Athena cabin Clarisse found Annabeth and one of the Athena boys… Malcolm was it? They were drawing some intricately complex schematic for the new temple that Camp Half-Blood was finally going to build to honor the gods.

"We can maximize light by adjusting the roof by… uh Annabeth we've got a visitor," said Malcolm, cringing back a bit as soon as he saw Clarisse.

"You can take five Malcolm. Hey Clarisse… so what brings you about?" asked Annabeth, not entirely sure what to do as it was the first time Clarisse had ever visited her.

"Oh nothing really… so what do you know about… other universes?"

This got Annabeth's attention, not just because it was completely unlike Clarisse to ask about such a complex subject, but because she herself had a deep fascination and interest in matters of quantum physics ever since reading Brian Green's _The Elegant Universe_.

"Well we've known since ancient Greece that if you can prove something mathematically you can prove it in the real world, so if we look at the mathematical formula that combines the infinite probability principle as demonstrated in the thought experiment of Schrödinger's cat with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle…"

"Save me the lecture professor! Just tell me whether or not parallel universes exist!"

"Well if you have no appreciation for mathematics you can be like an ignoramus I suppose! Well the short answer is that because the math works out they do… wait why are you so interested in parallel universes?" inquired Annabeth.

"It's none of your business! Now tell me whether there could be other planets like Earth and with people on them if ya!"

"Yes," replied Annabeth with a smirk smile.

"So it's possible then?"

"It's a two part answer, yes it's possible, and yes you're defiantly hiding something!"

"No I'm not!" said Clarisse, a bit too defensively.

Annabeth narrowed her eye speciously, "I know you're hiding something, and don't think just cuz you're an Ares girl you're gonna scare me away, eventually I will find out what you're hiding!"

At was at that point, when Annabeth and Clarisse were glaring at one another intensely, that Percy walked in.

"Yeah… this is a bad time isn't it wise girl?" asked Percy.

"Give me a minute seaweed brain, just wait outside," said Annabeth, not taking her eyes off Clarisse for a minute.

"I'll deal with you at capture the flag tonight!" snarled Clarisse, and with that she stormed off.

Although her encounter with Annabeth had created more problems that she had bargained for at least Clarisse now knew that Silena's story of blasting across time and space to other universes was at least somewhat believable. Yet she couldn't help but wonder if Silena was pulling her leg, so to quell these suspicions Clarisse went to the Aphrodite cabin to see if anyone there knew anything about where Silena had diapered too. Apart from Silena there were only a few Aphrodite kids who weren't completely terrified of Clarisse, so she made quite an impression when she barged into the Aphrodite cabin.

"Take it easy, I'm not gonna clobber you guys till capture the flag, I'm just here to see if any of you know where Silena is," assured Clarisse.

"We don't know, she's been gone all day, but all her stuff, it's all gone, even her bunk is gone!" said one of the Aphrodite girls.

"Yeah, and last night I saw this guy come into the cabin and talk to Silena, he had brown hair and brown eyes, was very athletic looking, but I'd never seen him before even though he was wearing a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and jeans. I think he said his name was Pendragon" added one of the Aphrodite boys.

"Just like Silena wrote!" muttered Clarisse to herself.

Clarisse need a moment to clear her head and process all the information she'd received, so she went for a walk around the camp. Clearly what Silena wrote was actually happening, but why had all her things right down to her bunk disappeared? And more importantly did this mean Saint Dane was coming to Camp Half-Blood, and if so when?

Suddenly Clarisse felt a twitching feeling on her finger, and it was then that she noticed that the ring on her finger was being to grow and the stone in the center had turned from gray to crystal and was emitting a dazzling display of lights and a sweet jumble of music that weren't to any particular tune. Clarisse quickly shoved the growing ring in her pocket and ran for the nearest private place, but where? She considered the Ares cabin, but there might be people in it; then she rushed for the bathroom… only to find it had people in it too.

Just when it seemed all hope was lost Clarisse found her perfect hiding place: the Hephaestus cabin! She had seen all the Hephaestus kids leave for the forge earlier that morning and knew none of them would be back until much later, and not a moment too soon as the ring was starting to burst the seams of her pocket. As soon as she rushed in Clarisse took the ring out of her pocket and placed it on the floor and watched the dazzling array of light dance around the cabin, it along with the musical notes grew most intense when the ring grew to the size of a Frisbee, but after that the lights and music stopped and the ring shrank back to its normal size.

The first thing that Clarisse noticed was that the ring had deposed Silena's next journal from Denduron on the floor, but she also noticed that Charles Beckendorf had been standing right behind her the entire time.

"Right… so how much of that did you see?" asked Clarisse.

"Oh just about the whole thing, so are you gonna tell me about what that was?" asked Beckendorf.

"So what brings you around these parts?" asked Clarisse in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

"Well the fact that I'm head of Hephaestus cabin and I was picking up some supplies, but you're dogging the question here, what was that thing."

Clarisse sighed with defeat, on the one hand she could just not tell Beckendorf and threaten to beat him to a pulp, but he'd already seen too much, beside he was practically Silena's boyfriend, he had a right to know what happened to her, he might even help her handle all the craziness of being an acolyte and make sense of Silena's journals.

"Wait here, I'll be right back with the first of her journals."

Clarisse quickly rushed back to Ares cabin and found that Silena's first journal was safely in the draw of her nightstand right where she had left it and none of her siblings had disturbed it. She quickly rushed back to Hephaestus cabin and watched Beckendorf read the journal, when he had finished Beckendorf nearly dropped the journal in shock.

"If I hadn't seen the ring I wouldn't have believed any of this was true!" said Beckendorf at a loss for words.

"I know, it was a lot for me to take in at first too but… I looked into it, all her stuff is gone, even her bunk, and apparently it's possible for there to be parallel universes and stuff…"

"Does anyone else know?"

"Annabeth suspects I'm hiding something, and one of the Aphrodite boys say he saw Pendragon and Silena last night, but other than that no," said Clarisse.

"So any chance I can be an acolyte too?" asked Beckendorf with more than a hint of hope in his voice.

"You're practically her boyfriend, and I need someone to help keep me sane, why not, but I'm keeping the ring."

"And I'll keep the journals with me, they'll be safer in my cabin. So what now, do we tell Chiron, see if Silena's dad knows anything maybe?"

"I'm not sure, but whatever we do first we need to figure out what Silena's up to on Denduron," said Clarisse as she unrolled Silena's latest journal.

**Well what did you think? Next chapter we'll be catching up with Silena's latest adventures on Denduron, Hobey Ho my readers! **


	4. Chapter 4

Journal # 2

Denduron

Well I officially survived training, and I'm still in one piece! Oh and Pendragon say I'm ready to go out on my own now, not exactly sure where I'm going after this but okay. So let me rewind for a minute, so realllly early next morning I awoke to someone dragging me out of bed and penning me to the floor; I sleepily opened my eyes to find… you guessed it, Pendragon, looking down at me and smiling.

"You know what they say, you snooze you lose, and you might want improve those reflexes princess, big day of training ahead of us."

I got up and sighed, "Alright, but after breakfast."

"Yeah about that, in order to give you motivation in your training you're not getting any food until you complete one of task we have set up for you," said Bobby.

"Fine, but at least let me freshen up first," I pleaded.

"Well I suppose you can have a few minutes, but hurry up."

The bathroom really wasn't much to snuff at, there was a wash basin, a toilet (a flushing one at that), something at vaguely resembled a shower, a fur rug, and even a mirror (no clue how they make mirrors on Denduron… or Second Earth for that matter). As soon as I make sure the door was good and locked I took the magic suitcase out of my pocket and it began to expand to full size, but not before nocking a few things off the wash basin and making a lot of noise.

"Everything okay in there Silena?" called Bobby.

"Uh… yeah, just had a little trouble with the lights," I lied.

"To turn the light-tubes on twist the green knob and to turn them off pull the orange leaver; now hurry up, we've got training to do!"

Believe it or not I was actually able to get my hair and makeup done in record time, well record time for me anyway. As soon as I was done I pressed to button to return the suitcase to its miniaturized size slipped it back into my coat pocket. As soon as I came out of the bathroom Bobby's eyes went wide.

"Whoa! Silena you look… wait where did you get that makeup, did you bring it with you even though I specifically told you to leave it at the flume?"

"No! I'm a daughter of the goddess of beauty; I can summon makeup and beauty products whenever I want!" I lied.

Bobby eyed me suspiciously for a moment but eventually he accepted this explanation.

"Well if you say so, but I've got my eye on you princess."

It was right when Bobby said princess that Alder walked in; as soon as he heard this Alder reverently got on one knee and equally reverently kissed my hand.

"Your majesty! Pendragon you did not tell me that we would be in the presences of royalty!" said Alder, and he was absolutely serious!

"It's just a nickname Alder, she's not really a princess, but she's certainly a royal pain, I'll give her that!" said Bobby as he shot me a look.

Alder blushed even more than he had the day before, "So perhaps we should begin the training by focusing on Silena's strengths. Is there any sort of fighting skill you are good at Silena?"

"No, not really."

"There must be something."

"Well I'm really good at pegasus riding, and I guess I'm okay at archery," I said.

"Riding and archery… maybe we can combine that," mused Bobby.

Obviously Denduron doesn't have any pegasus so I had to make do with just a regular old horse, but it wasn't that different from pegasus ridding and soon I was pretty proficient at it, unfortunately that didn't exactly earn me too many breakfast points, and I was actually hungrier after eating what little food Bobby allowed me to have. Next we focused on honing my archery skills, the first few times I was actually able to hit the targets, but then I wound up hitting Booby and Alder… a lot.

"I think that is enough archery for today, what do you say Pendragon?" asked Alder as he pulled out a stray arrow from one of the chinks in his armor.

"Yeah I'm thinking we ought to go back to basics and work our way back to weapons," agreed Bobby.

So we tried sword fighting, but I could barely hold the heavy swords they use on Denduron; next we tried whip fighting, but I was better at hitting myself than I was anything else.

"Okay this isn't working out, you know what we'll just save it for now and focus on forging the weapons," said Bobby.

"But we'll break for lunch first right?" I asked hopefully.

"Alder and I will, but you haven't earned it yet."

"Oh come on Pendragon, this is like boot camp, and in case you haven't noticed I'm not exactly boot camp material!"

"Oh please you have no clue what real warrior training is like!" shot back Bobby.

"And like you have any better idea!"

"As a matter of fact I do, train with Loor and Alder at the training camp Mooraj on Zadaa, believe me this comes nowhere near as bad as I had it there!"

"I don't disagree that we must train her for battle Pendragon, but Silena is delicate and used to such things, perhaps we could find another skill she can use in the battle against Saint Dane. Now that I think of it perhaps we should take her to Zadaa to see Loor, after all she is the one who told you to find Silena and tell her of her destiny as a Traveler," suggested Alder.

"Alder let's be serious her, Silena wouldn't last two seconds on Zadaa," laughed Bobby.

"I so too would!" I shouted.

Bobby scratched his chin thoughtfully at this, "Fine, Alder you take her to Zadaa… things are kind of touchy between Loor and me at the moment, and I'll stay here on Denduron and work on forging the weapons, just try not to get blood everywhere when Loor beats you black and blue!"

The walk up the mountain back to the flume was long and gave Alder and me plenty of time to think; I thought about how I had defiantly pickup that there had been something between Bobby and Loor in the past, and if I could delve into that I might be able to get Bobby off my case. But what I really considered that most was how much my feet hurt and how hungry I was, and how if I ever got the chance I was so going to kill Bobby for dragging me into all this!

"Alder my feet hurt, can't we take a break?" I whined for what had to be the umpteenth time, but I didn't care, my feet felt like I was walking up the mountain in stilettos.

"We have been walking for a while, I do not see why not," said Alder as he pulled up a nice comfy log for us to sit on.

As I sat down and my feet breathed a big sigh of relief Alder handed me something wrapped in a cloth.

"Do not tell Pendragon I gave this to you, but you need to keep your strength up and… well you looked quite hungry."

I unwrapped the cloth to find it contained some sort of meat and a few vegetables, at that point I was so happy I nearly kissed Alder right then and there, but my stomach soon got the better of me and I practically inhaled the food.

"Oh gods this is delicious! Well anything would be delicious at this point, but still this is amazing, what kind of meat is this?"

"Rabbit, why do you ask?"

"Uh… forget I asked. So what's the deal with Bobby and Loor, did they ever get romantically involved?" I inquired.

"For a time they were somewhat I suppose, Pendragon was quite fond of her and Loor of him, but then Loor decided it would distract them from their duties as Travelers," said Alder.

"Can Travelers have relationships, if not with other Travelers than with people from their territories?"

"I suppose it can happen, anyone special in your life?"

"Well I've had a few boyfriends over the years, you know my mom being the goddess of love and all, but recently there's been this guy, his name's Charlie, I just… I feel like he the most amazing boy in the world. We've been on a few dates around camp, but not really anything too official yet but… I just want to tell him how I feel and have him hold me close and… and kiss me."

"Do you wish to go back to Second Earth, so you can tell him this?" asked Alder with his big sympathetic eyes.

"Oh gods I want that so bad! But… well I hate to sound like Pendragon, but we need to keep going to Zadaa because… well because maybe this is the way it was meant to be," I said, hardly believing my own words.

For a moment with just sat there in complete silence, that is until Alder broke the ice.

"Then we should get going, but do not think bad of Pendragon, he is only so stressed because of Saint Dane's recent victory on Quillan, normal he is not so harsh."

"No offense Alder, but I'll believe that when I see it," I scoffed.

Eventually we made it to the flume atop the mountain, but before we blasted off for Zadda we rested again.

"I will make a note of starting a party to dig out the flume closer to the village, in the abandoned mine shaft, of course there is the possibility we may find more tak and that would not be good," said Alder.

"You know maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing, all things considered," I replied.

After a few more minutes we were ready, Alder and I faced the seemingly endless tunnel of the flume, I gave a nod to Alder to tell him it was time.

"Zadaa!" called Alder, and with that the sweet musical notes began, the walls of the flume transformed, and we were pulled in.

My second trip thru the flume was just as magical, if not more so, than my first trip. This time among the ghostly images I was able to pick out a huge black pyramid, a ferocious looking jungle cat, and a dark skinned warrior with some kind of big wooden stick in his hands. Eventually I felt gravity start to take effect again and the flume deposited us in some kind of underground cavern; waiting for us at the flume were Zadaa cloths, I got a white tunic, a white skirt, and leather sandals, and Alder got about the same but with white pants rather than a skirt.

"So any quigs we should be concerned about?" I asked as we climbed at footholds in the wall out of the cavern.

"On Zadda quigs are snakes, but no they're all gone now."

Have I mentioned how much I hate snakes? Well I reallllly hate snakes, so breathed a huge sigh of relief. I was actually able to make it all the way up the wall all on my own without any help from Alder (I guess wall climbing's not so hard when you don't have to worry about being scorched by lava like at camp).

As we made our way thru the labyrinth of underground tunnels I noticed that there was a river rushing past us, no seriously there was a river underground! As we made our way up the stairs and out of a little stone hut at the top the sigh of Zadaa took my breath away. We were in the middle of the desert, but there was a huge river running thru it, and the banks of the river were lush and full of farms; unlike Denduron Zadaa only had one sun but gods was it hot! In the distance was an amazing city that kind of look like ancient Egypt before it became so ancient, an oasis in the middle of the desert (well the river helped, and I could make out what looked like an ocean in the distance).

"It's so amazing, what's that city in the distance?"

"That is the city of Xhaxhu, and it's where we'll meet Loor," said Alder.

Like I said before Xhaxhu was like seeing ancient Egypt at its height, there were huge stepping stone pyramids everywhere ringed with statues of famous citizens of the city, all the buildings were made out of sandstone, the streets were lined with palm trees and had troughs of water running parallel to them. Another thing that I noticed was that most of the citizens were wore brilliantly colorful clothing and we really dark skinned, so much so that they'd look African if they were on Second Earth. With our white cloths and light skin Alder and I stuck out like sore thumbs, yet no one seemed to notice.

"I thought the point of the cloths at the flume was to blend into the territory," I said.

"We do, the people you see are members of the Batu tribe, but with our light skin we look more like the Rokador, they are the tribe that lives on the other side of the river, though both tribes exist as one society," replied Alder.

"So how do they look so light, shouldn't they be dark skinned too?"

"Until recently the Rokador lived in a vast underground tunnel system governed by their capital city of Kidik."

"That must have done wonders for their tans!" I remarked sarcastically.

Eventually we made our way to this arena thingy, as we made our way inside I found that the crowd was mixed Batu and Rokador, and gods Alder wasn't kidding about the Rokador being pale! Okay when I say pale I'm talking ghostly pale, and they had light blonde hair, and eyes that were the strangest shade of green. I looked down onto the arena field to see what exactly we were watching and saw two teams, one Batu and one Rokador, the Batu were wearing leather armor with wooden spikes all over their bodies, and the Rokador where wearing white hooded cloaks with wooden spikes all over them; the goal of the game seemed to be to grab as may spike from the opposing them was possible.

"But that doesn't seem fair, the Batu only have wooden staves while the Rokador get those electric metal baton thingies," I said over the roar of the crowd.

"Oh don't worry Silena, the Rokador may have the technological edge, but the Batu are seasoned warriors, there whole society is built on that concept," replied Alder.

True to Alder's word the Batu seriously kicked some Rokador ass taking spike after spike, but all things considered the Rokador weren't doing all that bad either. Soon one of the Batu caught my attention because unlike the other members of the Batu team she was a girl; her dark hair came to about shoulder length and her body was like that of a professional athlete, all muscle and no fat.

"That one over there, is she Loor?" I asked in bewilderment.

Alder nodded and waved his hands in the air to get Loor's attention, when she saw him she smiled and waved back. After the game ended (with a close call but ultimately a Batu victory) we waited on the lower levels for Loor, and she came up to us soon enough.

"Alder, it is good to see you again. Ah and you must be Silena, we've been expecting you," said Loor.

**Well what did you think? Just press the little green button and leave a review my happy readers :) **


	5. Chapter 5

Journal #2, continued

Zadaa

After the game Loor took us back to her apartment in training barracks of the Ghee warriors (they're the warrior class of the Batu). Admittedly Loor's apartment was kind of simple, but with a certain rustic charm to it.

"Tell me Silena, how has your training progressed?" asked Loor.

"I suck at being a Traveler, I've only been at it for like three days and I already want to go home!" I moaned miserably.

"She sounds just like Pendragon!" giggled Saangi, she's Loor's acolyte.

Loor shot Saangi a disapproving look before continuing, "From what I have been told you struggle with skills in fighting, this is understandable as it is not in your nature to be a warrior, but perhaps there is something else you excel in."

"Nothing that's particularly useful as far as being a Traveler."

"There is surly something."

"Does knowing everything there is to know about fashion, makeup, and dating count?" I asked, but I had a pretty good idea of the answer.

Loor just sat there in stoic silence for a few moments, so was so still and emotionless she might as well have been a statue, but finally she spoke.

"Come, let us see to the extent of your… sucking did you call it?"

Did I mention that is was hot on Zadaa? Well it was realllly hot during the day; it must have been like over ninety degrees… in the shade! So in order to train some more we decided to the underground tunnel system Alder and I had entered when we first got out of the flume.

"So when exactly did the Rokador move above ground and why?" I asked as we walked down the twisting tunnels.

"At one time the Batu and Rokador lived in peace; the Batu farmed and protected the two tribes from the uncivilized cannibals of the desert while the Rokador manufactured amazing technology and controlled the waters of Zadaa in their vast underground network of pipes and machines. Then a deadly disease decimated the Rokador, only about 1,000 survived, and it was at this critical time that Saint Dane convinced them that the Batu would attack unless they switched off the water supply," said Loor.

"Wait don't tell me, and then Pendragon came along and saved the day right?" I asked.

"Correct, the situation was getting worse by the day and the Batu had been misinformed that the Rokador were running out of space underground and were planning to invade. Many wished to go to war but Pelle a Zinj, heir to royal throne of Xhaxhu, always stood against them as the voice of reason… until he was assassinated that is. Then Pendragon, Saangi, Alder, and I traveled to the Rokador capital of Kidik on instructions from… my friend Bokka, he was a Tiggen Guard, they are the warrior class of the Rokador."

I occurred to me that Loor had referred to Bokka in the past tense, and she had defiantly indicated that she had had feelings for him, I was dying to know more about that, but now was not the time to bring up such a touchy subject.

"So what did you guys find at Kidik?" I asked.

"We found an ocean, an entire ocean underground; Saint Dane had convinced the Rokador to lure the Ghee underground and then create a massive flood to drown them, but the flood got so out of control it would have drowned the Rokador as well. Fortunately we, along with most of the Ghee and Rokador, managed to survive, and out of the destruction and new river and ocean where formed, and the water crisis ended forever," said Loor.

The tunnel were kind of dark, but there was enough light from these weird light thingies on the walls that I could see around me, but if I closed my eyes it was totally pitch black. After we had walked for a while Loor decided that we'd gone far enough.

"This cavern is like a night on Zadaa, cool and dark, much as when we first trained Pendragon a Mooraj, so we will do a simple exercise with you; close your eyes and try to sense our hands trying to slap you and then attempt to stop them," said Loor.

Clarisse you're an Ares girl, fighting is in your blood, so to you that probably didn't sound all too bad right? Well being an Aphrodite girl it was harder than those chocolate chip cookies Annabeth made for Percy that one time (no offense but she sucks at cooking). I tried to listen for them coming, to feel the heat of their bodies, I even tired smelling them but to no avail.

"This is stupid! All we're doing is playing a game of Let's-Slap-Silena!" I shouted after getting slapped a bunch of times.

"Feel us," said Alder, and then I got slapped again.

"Feel us," said Saangi, and then she slapped me.

"Stop it! Just stop it right now!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

There was dead silence after this, and I don't mean silence like when I couldn't hear everyone coming at me, I mean it was completely silent and I was pretty sure nobody was moving. I slowly opened my eyes to find… everyone was standing around me frozen in shock.

"Did… did I do that?" I asked in amazement.

"I believe that you did," answered Loor after a pause.

"But how, I mean that's not a Traveler power… is it?"

"Not to this extent, but Travelers have to power of persuasion and are quite good and influencing people. Tell me child of Aphrodite, are you a charmspeaker?"

"I am, wait how did you… oh yeah you guys now about demigods and Greek mythology, still adjusting to that," I said.

"Then we have found your skill."

"We have? Be how is that of any use?"

"Think about it, on Denduron I gave you food even when Pendragon would not because of how your voice seemed to lure me in, it was like I was a fish being pulled in by a net, I could not help myself… and you seemed so sad, and such beautiful eyes need not look sad… I mean it is an aspect of your charmspeaking!" said Alder, bumbling for words.

"Okay so now what; I talk Saint Dane into not destroying all of Halla?"

"Each of us was chosen to be a Traveler for a reason, and each of us has special skill for the same reason we were chosen to be Travelers. I know that is why you are a charmspeaker, because this is the way it was meant to be," said Loor.

There were those words again, nine words that served as the unofficial motto of the Travelers, nine words that had changed my life forever, and yet now they were nine words that brought some comfort amidst a sea of chaos and confusion.

"I guess I can accept that, I'm not sure if I like where all this Traveler stuff is going, but I accept it as part of who I am," I whispered softly.

Loor put her hand on my shoulder in support and she actually smiled, "I understand the feeling, but know that you have taken a big step forward in your journey as a Traveler, now that you accept who you are. Now we must get back to Xhaxhu to get ready."

"Get ready for what?"

"The festival of Azhra! The celebration of when the great warrior Azhra journeyed through the savage desert to found the city of Xhaxhu, it is the greatest Batu festival of the entire year, even the Rokador take part in the celebration!" said Saangi, beaming with excitement.

"Finally, a part of being a Traveler that doesn't leave me in a world of pain!" I said with joy.

Once we made our way back to Loor's apartment I waste no time pulling out all the stops to look my best for the celebration; even though the Rokador didn't seem the wear much colorful clothing Loor decided it would be okay if I barrowed one of her festival dresses and some jewelry for the occasion and guess what, she had a hot pink dress that perfectly conformed to the curves of my body! I then made quick work applying and reapplying different shades of eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick, and to top in all off I styled my hair to perfection; look out festival of Azhra, Silena Beauregard has arrived!

"Well you look… amazing!" said Loor, something told me I she didn't give complements that easy and I should savor it.

"You're not so bad yourself with your red dress and your hair down, and those jewels complement your skin well," I said.

Loor gave a small smile at this, and it was about at this point that Alder and Saangi came in; the instant Alder saw us he looked like he had just seen a movie star (or whatever they have on Denduron for entertainment).

"Uhhhh…"

"Hey Alder, nice gold trim around your Rokador cloths, looks… well they consider it festive right?" I said.

"Uhhhh… right!" choked out Alder.

Loor and Saangi exchanged a look at rolled their eyes at this. The best way I can describe the festival of Azhra is like Mardi Gras, Chinese New Year, Carnival, and New Year's Eve in Time Square all rolled into one; all the Batu were lining the streets in their bright colorful clothing and the Rokador were joining them wearing white clothing with gold trim around the edges, there were people holding these huge paper snakes on sticks and others with paper spear striking at them, food and drink (which were amazing and super flavorful) were everywhere and stalls lined the streets.

"So what are those paper two headed cat things?" I asked as we stopped to watch another mock-battle.

"Zhou beast, as part of the festival we reenact Azhra's journey through the desert," explained Loor.

"Are there any near the city, and snakes what about them?"

"Both are common in the desert, but the Ghee keep them under control," said Saangi.

Just when I was beginning to enjoy being a Traveler it had to be Zhou beast… and snakes! Did I mention how much I hate snakes? I tried not to think too much about that as we made our way to the royal palace of Xhaxhu where the royal family were about to make a speech.

As I stood in the crowd feeling the buzz of all the excitement around me I felt someone tap my shoulder, I turned around to see Alder holding a flower that kind of looked like a lotus; he must have gotten it at one of the stalls or something.

"I saw this flower and I thought of you because it is so beautiful, and I thought it would look very beautiful in your hair," said Alder, he sounded stilted and like he was reciting lines.

Well Alder was sweet, but sweet in a little boy kind of way (though little's not the word I'd use to describe him), and I do love it when boys fall for me, but Alder just wasn't my type. All the same he was making an effort so I could at least give him a compliment.

"Thanks Alder! Here how does this look?" I said as I placed the flower in my hair.

"It… great… looks!" said Alder as he shook his hands nervously.

Maybe it was because I'm just naturally nice (hey it's true, so not bragging), or because of the overall mood of the festival, but as a little token for his troubles I acted on an impulse and kissed Alder on the cheek. At that point Alder nearly fainted with happiness, and soon it was time for the royal speech. The instant the royal family came out from the palace (which like most of the buildings was atop a stepping stone pyramid) the crowd went absolutely ecstatic, but they all quieted down when the king (or whatever he was called) stretched out his hands.

"Long live Xhaxhu and long live the peace between the Batu and the Rokador!" bellowed the king.

There was so much cheering I didn't notice anything odd at first, but when several statues of famous Ghee warriors topple all of a sudden and the crowd began to part away from them even one took note an held their breath as the dust cloud settled. When the dust did settle I couldn't believe my eyes, because the creature standing before us was like a cross between a Zhou beast and a snake, but rather than two heads it had nine, it was the Hydra and it was hungry.

"I have never seen such a beast!" exclaimed Saangi as the Hydra charged at the crowd.

A group of Ghee warriors and Tiggen guards rushed in to try and stop the Hydra, I seriously hopped none of them would try to slice off one of the heads. The good news is that the Ghee fought with wooden staves and the Tiggen fought with their electric batons and neither had slicing weapons… the bad news is that those weren't nearly enough to battle the Hydra. We watched with horror as the Hydra grabbed several warriors, Ghee and Tiggen, and shook them like rag dolls; one thing I saw that really chilled me was when a Tiggen warrior was charging at the Hydra and took a direct hit of Hydra acid to the face, as the poor warrior fell to the ground screaming in agony one of the Hydra's heads picked him up and then with a sickening crunch it bit him in two, the only good thing was that it ended his agony from the acid.

It occurred to me that many of the Batu and Rokador were describing the Hydra exactly as it was, come to think of it the people of Denduron had described the Minotaur fairly accurately, did that mean there was no Mist on the other territories? I didn't have much time to fathom these mysteries because we had to figure out how to deal with the Hydra and fast.

"Any ideas?" I asked desperately.

"You would know better than we," said Alder.

"Okay think how did Heracles defeat this thing? Think, think, I got it! So he was with that satyr guy and they trapped it in the canyon and drop those boulders on it… oh wait that was the Disney movie, and Chiron said the Disney movie was almost completely inaccurate… but that could be a plan! If we trap it between those huge statues over there and drop them on it we can totally kill it!"

"Then we are in luck, we can use those dygos," said Loor as she pointed to a machine that looked like a metal sphere on treads with a long multi-tipped drill on the end.

"I'm guessing dygos are Rokador tech," I said as we climbed into one of the vacant dygos.

"When the Rokador lived underground they used the dygos to drill their elaborate tunnel system," explained Loor.

The dygos were actually a lot fast than I thought they would be, now the only trick was to lure… scratch that, the Hydra was after us! This was going to be a delicate operation, we didn't want to chip away too much or the statues would fall early, but not too little or they wouldn't fall at all, and complicating things further was doing it all and getting the Hydra in place on time. As we drilled into the base of the first statue I realized it was of Pelle a Zinj, it seemed wrong to defile the statue of such a great Batu, but something just told me that he wouldn't have rather that than the Hydra killing everyone.

When we thought we had enough we moved on to the next statue, but the Hydra had caught up with us and thanks to the round shapes of the dygo we were safe, that is until a hole started to appear in the roof of the dygo.

"The Hydra's acid! It must be eating thru the outer shell!" exclaimed Alder.

"We need just a few more minutes!" said Loor, her attention totally focus on the perfect drill.

It was that moment that the acid had eaten thru enough of the outer coating that the Hydra got enough leverage to rip a hole in the dygo.

"Abandon ship…er, dygo!" I screamed as I ran for my life; with Alder and Loor right behind me… wait where was Saangi?

"Saangi! Saangi where are you?" called Loor.

"Look, she's is over there with a message I believe," said Alder as he pointed to Saangi, who was safely in the crowd.

By now the Hydra had lost interest in the dygo and was turning it attention on us, with the statues beginning to crack I knew we had to act fast.

"We need to get it under the statues now!" I shouted, inadvertently using my charmspeaking.

What happened next when by so fast it was like a blur; Alder rushed under the statues with the Hydra in hot pursuit, right when Alder and the Hydra got in-between them the statues finally gave way and toppled over and kicked up a huge cloud of dust. After a tense moment the dust cleared and… the Hydra was crushed to death, yes! But wait, where was Alder?

"Alder! Alder! I killed him; I killed him with my charmspeaking! He was a fellow traveler and I killed him! I was only beginning to get to know him and I kill him!" I sobbed, not even caring that my makeup was ruined.

"Silena why are you crying?"

I looked up from my sobbing to find… Alder, he was alive! I rushed up to him and gave him the biggest hug I possibly could, the plan had worked and I hadn't killed him.

"I must have died and gone to Elysium!" giggled Alder with happiness.

"You have done well Silena, you should be proud," smiled Loor as the Hydra turned to gold dust, but left behind a few heads as spoils of war.

"But it was you who drove the dygo, and it was Alder who lured it under the statues."

"But it was your plan that made me drill into the statues."

"And it was your words that made me lure the great beast under even when I doubted myself," said Alder.

"This will be your role as a Traveler child of Aphrodite, your voice and your words carry the power to change the course of an entire territory at your command, and perhaps that makes you potentially one of the greatest Travelers of all," said Loor.

Wow that was a load to take in! I may have been just an Aphrodite girl from Camp Half-Blood, yet I had the power to shape the destiny of worlds using… my voice? As I tried to fathom this I could she Saangi clutching a roll of parchment paper that looked like it was from Denduron.

"What is it Saangi?" asked Loor.

"An urgent message from Pendragon sent to me by Alder's acolyte."

The parchment only had one word written on it, but gods was it a loaded word, a word I really wish it didn't say, because the word on the parchment was Minotaur. Alder, Loor, and I wasted no time making our way back to the flume.

"The beast must have attacked the village while we were away, we must be prepared for the worst," said Alder as we faced the flume.

"Hey do you guys mind if I say it this time?" I asked.

"By all means," said Loor.

I faced the flume, this time more confident than on any of my previous trip true the flume, and in a confident voice I shouted out, "Denduron!"

At my command the flume sprang to life, the music began, and we were pulled in and onto Denduron.

**Welllll how'd you like it? Just leave a review by pushing the button below! Those mean things to me :) **


	6. Chapter 6

Journal #2, continued

Denduron

As we sailed thru the flume I saw an image of a group of muscular guys marching in formation like some kind of army or something, I also saw a group of people standing in the middle of a field in some kind of tribal ritual, and I even saw images of Camp Half-Blood! Seeing the ones of Camp Half-Blood made me feel a little homesick, maybe sometime even in the middle of all this Traveler craziness I can stop by Camp Half-Blood and see you Clarisse, and Charlie, oh I can't tell you how much I miss him right now. I'm getting off track here, so we said thru the flume for a while but soon enough we were back on Denduron; we quickly changed into our Denduron cloths and got into the sled, hopefully this time we wouldn't hit any rocks.

The Fates must have been bipolar that day because we made it into the village with no problems, but then we got to grasp the severity of the situation. It was night so the Minotaur had come to the village, several holes in all the buildings stood testament to that, lots of people were running around screaming and the whole scene had an air of general chaos to it.

"The beast has attacked! But where is Pendragon and…" Alder stopped short because we all saw it, in the middle of the village square the Minotaur was about to chow down on an unconscious Bobby Pendragon!

In one swift motion Alder pulled out his leather whip and wrapped it around one of the Minotaur's horns, while the monster was distracted trying to shake Alder off Loor dragged Bobby to the safety of the hut I was hiding in.

"Pendragon, wake up, it is Loor from Zadaa," whispered Loor.

At first nothing happened, but then, slowly but surely, Bobby regained consciousness.

"Loor? What are you…"

"We have found Silena's talent, but this can wait. Tell me, what has happened since Silena and Alder left for Zadda?"

Bobby was pretty banged up, he was covered in cuts and bruises all over his body, his left arm was really limp and look like it might be broken, and it looked like it took a lot of effort for him just to stay conscious.

"Tried to forge the Celestial Bronze weapons, and I made some but… Minotaur was just too strong for me," groaned Bobby.

"Well what weapons did you make?" I asked.

"Over there," said Bobby as he weakly lifted his finger to point to a piece of cloth covering something.

I uncover the cloth to find… two Celestial Bronze knives, and small ones at that!

"Bobby! Is this the best you could do?"

"Princess I'm really not in the mood to argue with you," said Bobby, even in this weakened state he was still the same annoying Pendragon.

Suddenly there was a loud snapping sound and the Minotaur bellowed loudly, we all looked outside to see that Alder had pulled the whip at just the right angle and just the right time that he had managed to rip off one of the Minotaur's horns, and the Minotaur was pissed! I don't know what it was, but in that instant I remembered how when Percy first came to camp he defeated the Minotaur as well, and it was then that I had my plan.

"Loor do you trust me?" I asked, more serious than ever.

"I have only known you for less than a day, but you have earned my trust," answered Loor.

"Then do exactly as I say, take one of the knives and give the other to Alder, when the Minotaur charges you wait until it can't turn and then stab it in the stomach and roll out of the way, got it?" I said, using my charmspeak to its full extent.

Loor took the knife and nodded in agreement, I watched as she rushed over to Alder and quickly explained the plan; the Minotaur backed up to charge, it lowered its head and gained momentum fast, if this didn't work Loor and Alder were in for a world of pain. As the critical moment came I couldn't take it and closed my eyes, but when the Minotaur let out a long, loud, startled bellow, I opened my eyes just enough to see… the Minotaur was on its knees with two bronze knives in its stomach and Alder and Loor had rolled off to the side. There was tension in the air so thick you could cut it with a knife, but eventually the Minotaur turned to gold dust and left the horn Alder pulled off as a spoil of war.

Now after a performance like that you'd expect us to get some big celebration right? Well the truth was the Minotaur had caused a lot of damage and though the villagers were relieved that it was gone there was a lot of work to do, it was just as well, with all the craziness I wasn't really in the mood to celebrate. One good thing was that thanks to his Traveler healing powers Bobby was feeling better and was even up on his feet, and we wasted no time filling him in on all that had happened on Zadaa.

"So how do you feel?" I asked.

"A still a little sore, but I've been worse. So that thing you did when you sounded super-persuasive, was that…"

"Charmspeaking, the power of persuasion superior to that of a normal Traveler, turns out that's my power," I said.

Bobby looked to Loor and Alder for confirmation, not seeming to believe this, and they nodded yes.

"Well then I take it back, I think you've got this Traveler thing down princess, in fact I think you're ready to go off on your own."

"Seriously?" I asked with more than a bit of confusion.

"Oh yeah, after all you've done here and on Denduron and on Zadaa; I can't say I understand this Traveler stuff perfectly, the sub-territories make it even more confusing, but what I do know is that you've proven yourself on this trip, and you'll be a valuable resource in fighting Saint Dane and saving Halla," said Booby, his eyes burning with fiery pride.

"But… I know I have charmspeaking, but that could be any child of Aphrodite, I'm just Silena from Camp Half-Blood…"

"Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them. For many are called, but the chosen are few. Ask not what you can do for… oh I can't do this anymore! Look princess the point is you did great, you are great, and I think you earn a trip back to Second Earth."

"You mean it?"

"Defiantly, and I'll tell you what, since we don't know where you fit into the grand scheme of Travelers and Halla and all that why don't you find my acolytes, Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde, and you can read up on my adventure, see if anything sticks out at you. We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning," said Bobby.

You know how when it's Christmas Eve and you just can't get to sleep because you know how amazing it's going to be in the morning when you wake up to all those presents, and your family, and the good times? Well that's how I felt for the rest of the night and into the next morning, but even though it felt like it took forever to come eventually the morning came and before I knew it we were all standing at the mouth of the flume on top the mountain.

"It is time I returned to Zadaa, for there is much to be done now that the Hydra is gone, but you have done well Silena of Camp Half-Blood. If nothing else know that you are truly a Traveler and for that you should always be proud," said Loor.

She then faced the flume and called out "Zadaa!" and with that the music began, the flume walls melted to see-thru crystal, and Loor was gone.

"Are… are you sure you want me to have this Minotaur horn?" asked Alder, his voice breaking a little.

"But of course, think of it as… (I leaned in close to him), as a little token to always remember me by," I said in my most seductive voice possible.

Then I leaned forward and gave Alder a quick kiss… on the cheek! Alder held the Minotaur horn close to his heart and sighed happily.

"Hey princess are you done, we've got to get going!" laughed Bobby.

"Coming Pendragon, bye Alder thanks for all your help."

"Come and visit again sometime… or perhaps I will visit you!" called Alder.

I smiled and winked at him before turning around to face the flume and calling out "Second Earth!" and with that the flume came to life and carried me and Bobby on our way. The flume ride was pretty uneventful, and to tell you the truth flume ridding was getting to be pretty mundane, but it was a nice way for me to just relax and let my mind wander. Soon as the flume deposited us back on good old Second Earth we changed back into the cloths we had worn the night when Bobby first told me of my destiny as a Traveler, that seemed so long ago, but yet it had only been a few days… I think.

"Hey Bobby does time work differently between the territories?" I asked.

"Well the flumes always bring travelers to the territories when they're most needed, so say we spend a month on Eelong it might have only been a half-hour on Second Earth; of course sometimes time matches up, like when I first went to Denduron and spent a few weeks there the same amount of time had passed on Second Earth. Just try not to think too hard about it, a lot of this Traveler stuff can burst your brain if you think too hard on it," said Bobby.

"Tell me about it. So listen when Alder and I were on Zadaa Loor mentioned that she used to be close to some guy named Bokka, you know anything about them?"

Bobby paused a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing, "He was a good friend of Loor's, if it weren't for her being a Traveler they might have gotten together…"

"What happened to him?"

"As you know Saint Dane had tricked the Rokador into trying to decimate the Ghee, and most of the Tiggen Guards followed this plan, but Bokka and a few other saw thru it and tried to warn Loor, me, Alder, and Saangi when we were at Mooraj, but the Tiggen loyal to Saint Dane tried to stop them and they… they killed him," said Bobby, trying not to tear up at this painful memory.

I didn't know how to respond to that; I probably should have, as a half-blood you have to get used to people you know and care about getting killed off by monsters and stuff, but even then the news of someone dying… it still stings all the same. For a moment we just stood there in silence, neither of us saying a word, that is until… of all people Percy Jackson walked up to us.

"Silena, I found you! Where have you been, the whole camp's been worried sick looking for you!" said Percy, I didn't know why at the time but something seemed off about him.

Bobby narrowed his eyes and smiled, "You're slipping, Camp Half-Blood t-shirts are orange, not purple!"

I looked at Percy again and sure enough he was wearing a purple t-shirt that said Camp Half-Blood on it… wait a minute Camp Half-Blood t-shirts are orange not purple!

Percy smiled kind of evilly and surged, "Well what's a few technicalities between… friends shall we call ourselves?"

Suddenly Percy's body began to ripple and expand like he was made of water, as he grew to seven feet tall and his cloths turned vaguely Asian I realized it wasn't Percy. To finish it off his hair turned to flames and his head became covered in red zigzags that resembled lightning bolts, and his eyes turned pure blue. Even though I'd never seen him before I recognized him instantly.

"Saint Dane!" I whispered.

"Why Silena you recognize me! How thoughtful of you!" said Saint Dane in an oily voice.

"What do you want Saint Dane? Why have you come here?" demanded Bobby.

Saint Dane put his hands to his face in mock-surprise, "Why Pendragon you think I've come to push the turning point of Second Earth in my favor! Well rest assured I will one day, but for now I just wanted to pop in and say hi to the newest little Traveler."

"You're not fooling anyone, when you come to a territory it's never to just hang around, you always have some evil plan!"

Saint Dane ignored Bobby's comment and casually walked over to me, I tried my best to inch away and even considered calling out the name of another territory into the flume to make it quick escape.

"My aren't you the pretty one! If you weren't a Traveler you could have any boy you wanted, but you should feel fortunate that you're a Traveler and that the nature of Halla has changed."

"What… what do you mean?" I asked nervously.

Saint Dane's evil smile widened more than ever before, "Why don't I let you feel what it would be like if things weren't so different!"

Saint Dane place his hand on my head, and the instant he did my face felt like it was on fire, every inch of it screaming out with searing pain. I couldn't free myself so I did the only thing I could: I screamed at the top of my lungs, louder than I ever had before. As I screamed in pain Saint Dane joined in, but his was a scream of joy and he had a huge smile on his face (he was practically having an orgasm!).

"Let her go! She's done nothing to you!" shouted Bobby.

Almost immediately after that Saint Dane let go of me and the pain ceased instantly, "You see, I take and I give. Now I'd really love to stay and chat, but I must be going, got some business to attend to on… Ibara!"

In that instant I didn't see the activation of the flume as magical, quite frankly it made me sick to my stomach to see it carry away that evil demon Saint Dane.

"You see children I can lick my wounds and carry on, the question is… can you? Hahahahaha!" called Saint Dane, his evil laughter echoing into the flume.

I'm going to end the journal here Clarisse. I'm writing this to you from Stony Brook, Connecticut; I've met up with Bobby's acolytes Mark and Courtney while Bobby's flumed off to Ibara to see what Saint Dane's up to. I really hope I get the chance to see you again, but if I don't remember what I said about looking out for Charlie and daddy, and Clarisse I don't mean to sound paranoid, but Saint Dane can transform himself and could literally be anyone, trust no one and be extremely careful.

Will write to you as soon as I can, Silena.

End of Journal #2

**And so the tension builds! So next chapter let's check in with Clarisse and Beckendorf. Until next time my readers!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys I'm back with more. Okay so I don't really think the Percy Jackson books ever really specified where Silena and Beckendorf lives so for this story we'll say Silena lives in New York City and Beckendorf lives on Stony Brook. So without further delay our story, enjoy. **

Second Earth

Clarisse and Beckendorf sat in silence after finishing Silena's latest journal. The whole experience had been pretty earthshattering, but the revelation that Saint Dane had not only visited Second Earth and taken on the form of Percy Jackson, but could potentially be anyone they encountered, had really shaken things.

"So if Saint Dane disguised himself as Percy once… do you think he'll do it again?" asked Beckendorf.

"I guess, but if he were to disguise himself as a camper my money would be on Annabeth, would explain why she's suspicious of us," said Clarisse.

"Uh Saint Dane is a guy, and Annabeth's a girl."

"So, Silena never said Saint Dane couldn't disguise himself as a girl did she?"

"True, and I get what you mean about being carful but… I don't know it seems like you're being paranoid, I mean Annabeth seems pretty trustworthy to me," said Beckendorf.

"Let just forget about it for now or we'll both go mad with paranoia!" laughed Clarisse.

"Good plan, but still what about Silena's dad? And she did say she was in Stony Brook, which is my home town and not too far from here all things considered…"

"Thinking about sneaking out? Didn't know you have a rebel in ya Beckendorf!" said Clarisse as she playfully punched Beckendorf's arm.

The two agreed that they have a hard time explaining to Chiron why they needed to go into the city without raising questions that would inevitably lead to the even hard explanation about Travelers and Halla, so it was decided that they would hotwire one of the camp van early the next morning and go for a quick trip to both New York City and Stony Brook, wait overnight, and then return early the next morning before they or the van was missed. As he waited all night a recurring thought kept tugging at Beckendorf; Pendragon, Dimond, Chetwynde, where had he heard those names before? The answer was on the tip of his tongue, but he just couldn't figure it out.

Five in the morning was awfully early by anyone's standards at Camp Half-Blood, but Clarisse and Beckendorf made sure to set their watches for that precise time. Being a son of Hephaestus Beckendorf made short work of hotwiring the van; everything was just about ready when Mr. D came out of the Big House wearing a leopard skin vest and carrying a jug of grape juice in his hand.

"What are you brats doing up so early, and why are you around the vans?" asked Mr. D in a nonchalant tone.

"Oh hey Mr. D! Oh this? We were just… going to deliver some strawberries into the city because we know you work so hard here at the camp and it shouldn't be on you to have to help drive the vans," said Beckendorf, making up an excuse on spot.

The bored expression on Mr. D face didn't change, "This is about that Milena girl isn't it?"

"Here name is Silena Beauregard and you now it!" snapped Clarisse.

"You know it's been awhile since I turned anyone into a dolphin…"

"You're not gonna tell Chiron are you?" asked Beckendorf.

"Hmm I suppose I should… but then again if I let you go you might die in a car wreck and I'd have two less brats to worry about… oh what do I care? Well Claret and Chucky I hope you have fun on your little quest to find Milena!" said Mr. D, as usual getting everyone's names wrong on purpose in order to be mean.

Ironically it was the trip to New York that was the quickest, for once they got into the city Clarisse and Beckendorf found themselves in a stream of traffic that seemed to be moving at a snail's pace.

"I'm tellin ya if we had turned right a few blocks ago we'd have made it to Mr. Beauregard's shop by now!" said Clarisse as she dangled her arm out the window in boredom.

"Be patient, we're almost there… I think," said Beckendorf.

After spending a few more minutes arguing over directions the duo decided to brake for breakfast, which the settle on at a bagel shop. While sipping on their beagles and sipping coffee they came to the conclusion that neither knew where Mr. Beauregard's shop was and decided to consult a list of phone numbers Clarisse had with her, but when they looked for it they found to their shock it had vanished.

"But that's impossible! Silena put it right there next to… oh my gods her cellphone number, it's gone!" exclaimed Clarisse.

"Are you absolutely sure Silena gave you the numbers?" asked Beckendorf.

"Of course I'm sure! Given that I'm her best friend it stands to reason I'd have those firkin numbers, she even drew a little heart and smiley face next to them!" shouted Clarisse as she banged her fist on the table and caused a few of the patrons' heads to turn.

"Okay, okay, calm down Clarisse! Let's stop and think, did she ever tell you where it is?"

"Now that you mention it I think she said something about it being on 5th avenue."

"That makes sense, 5th avenues the fashion district after all," said Beckendorf.

After finishing their breakfast Clarisse and Beckendorf got back in the van and made their way to 5th avenue, after what seemed forever they made it, as they passed row after row of stores displaying the latest in designer fashions Clarisse began to remember where Mr. Beauregard's shop was, but upon arriving at it Clarisse and Beckendorf could not believe their eyes. Where the shop should have been was just a square of dirt and a gap between the buildings, it was like it had just disappeared into thin air without leaving a trace.

"But… but that can possibly be real, it was right here, I just know it!" exclaimed Clarisse.

"There's no signs of it having been torn down, besides the gap's a perfect cut, you can't do that with anything I know of. It's like it just… vanished," said Beckendorf.

The two of them next checked Silena's apartment to see if Mr. Beauregard was there and knew anything about the disappearance of the store; when they asked the desk manager for the number of the Beauregard's apartment he couldn't find it in the register book, yet he clearly remembered both Silena and her father living in the apartment building. With the front desk being a bust Clarisse and Beckendorf decided to continue the investigation on their own; eventually they came to discover a huge hole where an apartment ought to be, yet there was nothing there but an empty space of blank walls.

"Okay I'm startin to get a little freaked out here!" said Beckendorf as he stared in disbelief.

"Then forget New York, let's get the Hades over to Stoner Brook…"

"Stony Brook," corrected Beckendorf.

"Whatever, the point is the sooner we get there the soon we get our answers," said Clarisse.

As they drove to Stony Brook Beckendorf kept coming back to those names, Pendragon, Dimond, Chetwynde, where had he heard them? It was like having all but the most critical piece of a puzzle, and frankly it was starting to irritate him. What was even more troubling was that possibility that they might not find the answers, in fact they may just find more questions, but he tried not to think about that too much.

As they pulled Stony Brook it was around lunch time and Clarisse was not in the mood to wait, so after parking the van along the Ave the duo made their way over to Garden Poultry on Beckendorf's recommendations.

"This place is great, but you have got to get the fries, they're just… wow! They come in boxes like Chinese food and they're beyond words!" said Beckendorf, practically water at the mouth at the mere mention of best fires in the world.

"Sound better than ambrosia, but frankly I'm hungry enough to eat the box they come in!" said Clarisse.

After making their way inside the two each order a box of fries and a drink, Clarisse got Coke while Beckendorf got Mountain Dew, as they walked outside the bumped into someone.

"Oh sorry I… Charles Beckendorf, is that you?"

"Dimond… Mark Dimond! We got to school together, and we're in Sci-Clops together, our robot won that big science competition a couple of years ago!" said Beckendorf, now realizing why the names sounded so familiar.

"Where have you been, I haven't seen you all summer… wait why did you just list the places you know me from?" asked Mark, somewhat confused.

"That is a good question, why did it take me so long to figure it out? Well I guess those fundamental changes in Halla also affected the Mist and made me forget how I know you, Bobby, and Courtney from school and how Bobby mysteriously disappeared a few years ago along with his family and all traces of his existe… are you okay Mark?"

By now Mark had noticed the acolyte's ring on Clarisse's finger, and the mention of the word Halla hadn't exactly helped things either.

"Hey Charles, you know if you have any secrets… you know you can trust me right?" said Mark, beginning to hyperventilate a bit.

"Look pal I've take lunch money from kids twice your size! Now do you know anything about Silena Beauregard or not?" demanded Clarisse, grabbing Mark by his shirt.

"I… uh… she… help!" stammered Mark nervously.

"Put him down Clarisse, you're not gonna get anything out of him that way!" said Beckendorf, reluctantly Clarisse let go of Mark.

"So you're her acolytes huh? Well that figures, she talks the world of you Charles."

"She does! What does she say? Is it…"

"Stay focused here lover boy! Look punk has your pal Pendragon told you about Greek mythology being real yet?" asked Clarisse.

Mark nodded his head, "It's kind of hard to miss that one. It's been happening across Halla, and now even I can see all the weird things, it's kind of cool but also kind of scary."

"And that camp I spend my summers at… do you know about that?" asked Beckendorf.

"Sort of, Silena said that she spends time at a camp and that she's a daughter of a Greek goddess… Aphrodite I think. So are you…"

"I'm a son of Hephaestus, and Clarisse here is a daughter of Ares."

"Oh… well that would explain why you're so good with machines, which I've always wondered about, and why she looks like Andy Mitchell as a girl… but then again Andy is pretty smart when it comes to science, like with the compound he made, and he's actually not such a bad guy when you get to know him."

"Seriously? I mean I knew about the science part but I never figured…"

"Hate to break up the nerd-fest, but do you got info on where Silena is?" said Clarisse.

"Oh! Right, follow me!" said Mark a bit nervously.

In the little pocket park in-between some of the buildings on the Ave two girls were sitting on the bench; one of the had long wavy brown hair, gray eyes, and was none other than Courtney Chetwynde; the other girl had gorgeous long black hair, dazzling blue eyes, and was wearing the latest in designer fashions, she was of course Silena Beauregard, the Traveler from Camp Half-Blood. As soon as Silena saw Beckendorf she rushed up to him as fast as her heels would permit and hugged him.

"Charlie! I can't believe it, you're here and Clarisse is with you! Oh my gods this is so perfect!" said Silena, feeling more overjoyed than she had in a while.

Courtney motioned for Mark and Clarisse to turn around in order to give Silena and Beckendorf some more privacy, and Mark went thru the quick-fire introductions.

"So you're a demigoddess… what's that like?" asked Courtney, in an effort to make conversation.

"It's interesting," remarked Clarisse flatly.

Courtney glanced over to Mark, who intern glanced over at her nervously.

"What?" asked Clarisse.

"Well Mark told me you and Beckendorf went looking for Silena's dad, but his shop and apartment were missing, and all evidence of Silena's existence had diapered, yet people still remembered her and her dad…"

"Does that happen a lot with Travelers?"

"It always happens with Traveler's, as soon as they realize they're destiny as a Traveler not only does all evidence of their existence disappear but so do their family members, but Silena's mom probably won't disappear given that she is a goddess," said Courtney.

"So Silena's dad, he's gone… why?"

"Your guess is as good as ours, because we really don't know, trust me you can burst your brain trying to figure out this Traveler stuff."

"I don't want to have to do that to her. Just look how happy she is, it would just completely crush her, and she my best friend, I can't do that to her."

"You don't have to do it immediately, believe me it took me and Mark a while to break it to Bobby, but eventually she's going to have to know the truth," said Courtney.

Clarisse nodded in acknowledgment and it was about then that Silena and Beckendorf walked over to the three of them.

"Hey guys! Sooooo since I'm still reading Bobby's journals and I'm still hanging out on Second Earth Charlie and I figured I could take a break and we could hang out and have a fabulous time here in Stony Brook. Sooooo any thoughts?" said Silena with her usual perkiness.

"I game, Mark, Courtney, what about you?" asked Clarisse.

"Sure!" said Courtney.

"Sounds great!" said Mark.

Even with Silena happily by her side Clarisse was still troubled, because in the end she was going to have to break the news to Silena about everything, this she knew, but how would Silena take it?

**So what's the verdict? You know how much I love you guys and your reviews so please leave one! :) **


	8. Chapter 8

Second Earth, continued

For the rest of the day the five of them did everything imaginable; they listened to the latest music, they discussed the latest TV shows and movies, and they even made time to read some more of Bobby's journals. After touring Stony Brook some more the group decided to stop by the beach and Beckendorf was granted the chance to see Silena in her hot pink bikini, which he noticed she filled out quite well, but telling her so would be majorly uncool. As the day grew to a close the group found themselves on the steps of the Stony Brook library with a few boxes of pizza and some sodas, reminiscing about how it had been a great way to spend a day.

"This day was simply fabulous! I so don't want it to end ever!" said Silena.

"I know, it sucks me and Beckendorf have to leave in the morning!" said Clarisse.

"I know… wait why so soon?"

Clarisse and Beckendorf exchanged an uneasy look with one another.

"Well Chiron kind of doesn't know we're here, or that we took one of the camp's vans," said Beckendorf.

"He does now!" called a voice from behind them.

Everyone turned around to find an old man who was balding and had a long beard and was sitting in a wheelchair that was coming their way, he could be none other than Chiron, the centaur trainer of heroes and activates director of Camp Half-Blood, in his human disguise.

"Why hello strange old man who I've never met before in my life!" said Beckendorf, a bit defensively.

"Now really Charles, I wasn't born yesterday you know!" scolded Chiron.

"Sir there is a perfectly logical reason we broke with camp protocol…"

Chiron held up his hand in silence, "No need to explain, I know about everything, Travelers, Halla, the ten territories, even Silena's roll in all of this. Now before I explain more I hope you won't mind if I make myself a bit more comfortable, it's awfully cramped in this old thing."

As soon as Chiron wiggled out of the magical wheelchair and revealed his white stallion lower half Mark and Courtney nearly jumped back four feet.

"You… you're…"

"A centaur, trainer of heroes, activities director of Camp Half-Blood, I answer to all three."

"So how did you know, about all this?" asked Silena.

Chiron smiled with that certain wise twinkle in his eyes, "I've been training heroes for over 3,000 years Silena, there's little I haven't seen, well that and Press Tilton was a good friend of mine."

"You knew Bobby's uncle?" asked Mark in amazement.

"Whoa, whoa, backup, what does Bobby's uncle have to do with any of this?" asked Silena.

"He was the Traveler from Second Earth and lead Traveler before Bobby, he told many of the other Travelers of their destiny and helped them figure out all this Traveler business," explained Mark.

"But if you knew then why didn't you tell me instead of Bobby?"

"Because that…"

"Was the way it was meant to be," filled in everyone in unison.

"Okay so if Travelers always have someone who comes before them before they pass on the torch to the next generation, then who was the Traveler from Camp Half-Blood before me?" asked Silena.

"That is a difficult question, by all regards you seem to belong to the younger generation of Travelers, but Camp Half-Blood only recently became a sub-territory and so only recently received a Traveler, but it ought to have had a Traveler from the elder generation because of the rules of the territories, but sub-territories may have their own set of rules and the nature of Halla may have changed. I don't know Silena, I really don't know," said Chiron.

The entire time Beckendorf had been shifting from one foot to another uneasily and Courtney had started to notice and was giving him a suspicious look. It was about then that a sleek silver convertible pulled up the curb, but not before the driver nearly drove the car onto the sidewalk upon seeing Chiron. The driver of the car had a sort of preppy/nerdy look to him, was in his twenties, and was none other than Patrick Mac, the Traveler from Third Earth; seated next to Patrick in the shotgun seat was Bobby Pendragon.

"That… that's a centaur!" said Patrick in bewilderment.

"And you're Patrick Mac, on Third Earth, the territory you're the Traveler from, you work as a teacher and librarian at the New York City public library, which by the year 5010, the current year on Third Earth, vast amounts of data are stored on chips no bigger than gains of sand and computers are unimaginably intelligent," said Chiron, everyone stared at that one.

"You knew my Uncle Press didn't you?" asked Bobby after a pause.

Chiron nodded, "He was a good friend of mine, he mentioned you a lot Bobby."

Patrick's initial shock at seeing Chiron soon wore off and instead he was filled with wonder at the sights and sounds of Stony Brook.

"Stony Brook, Connecticut, 3,000 years in the past! I've studied history all my life, and now I'm actually living it, and experiencing Greek mythology to boot! Oh nothing could possibly… can it be? It is! A primitive Apple store!" said Patrick as he rushed over to the Apple store.

Courtney sighed and rolled her eyes, "I'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"I'll go too!" said Beckendorf.

"Why so eager?" asked Courtney as they walked across the street.

Beckendorf looked back to make sure they were out of earshot of the others, "Can you keep a secret, something that I wouldn't even tell Silena or Clarisse. Look I know we just met and all but… I trust you for some reason, and I need someone to tell my secret."

Courtney paused for a moment as if weighing the options before answering, "I guess I trust you too, you know one acolyte to another, go ahead."

Beckendorf took a deep breath before responding, "Okay here goes, Silena's not the first person Bobby's visited at Camp Half-Blood, because… because I was supposed to be the Traveler from Camp Half-Blood."

This shocked Courtney so much that she nearly knocked over a display of iPhones.

"What?"

"One night Bobby came to my cabin and told me about all of this, and he took me thru the flume and showed me some of the territories of Halla, like Veelox and Quillan and Third Earth, but Quillan was the one that really got to me. That place is so messed up, and it's so dangerous and deadly, I just couldn't handle it. So I told Bobby I didn't care if this is the way it was meant to be, I just wanted to be plain old Beckendorf from Hephaestus cabin; I can't say he wasn't disappointed, but he understood, he said he could pass on my duty as a Traveler to someone else, I just never imagined it would be Silena."

"Then if you're familiar with all of this then you must know about Nevva Winter, the Traveler from Quillan," said Courtney.

Beckendorf nodded, "Her mom Ellie was supposed to be the Traveler of the elder generation, but she couldn't take it and asked Nevva to go in her place, but then Nevva joined Saint Dane in his plot to take over all of Halla… you don't think that could happen to Silena do you?"

"I'd be lying if I told you otherwise but… hey Patrick, do the elder Travelers have to be older than the younger generation?"

"Not necessarily, the Traveler form Third Earth before me was a student of mine, Em Stickler, as it were my acolyte Jay Oh is also a student of mine," said Patrick.

"So what does that mean, do that make me the penultimate Traveler for Camp Half-Blood, is Silena, or is it someone else? Is Saint Dane gonna try and tempt her into joining him? If Silena's not part of the younger generation of Travelers then what if…"

"Breath Beckendorf, breath! Okay let's break it down, I don't think Saint Dane will tempt her, and even if he did she's strong willed and would resist; I'm not sure about the rest, but you don't have to be afraid, you've got Clarisse, and Mark, and me, and all the other acolytes to help you figure this out, and the Travelers too. Don't worry, in the end, whenever it ends, it'll all make sense," said Courtney reassuringly.

Beckendorf couldn't say for sure, but something about Courtney's words reassured him, and he actually felt a bit more confident about the predicament. Patrick had decided he's looked enough and was about to head out the door when he paused and looked at Beckendorf.

"Hey Beckendorf, for what it's worth I think you would have made a great Traveler."

"Thanks Patrick, that means a lot to me."

The trio soon made their way across the street where everyone was waiting, and looking a little troubled.

"Hey guys, we miss anything?" asked Courtney.

"Something's come up, I need Silena to do me a huge favor, it involves something I can't do at the moment because of things on Ibara, so she's gonna have to come with me and Patrick back to the flume," said Bobby.

"And after that… well I got to Bobby's journal from Veelox and… I want to do something about it, I know the turning point has passed, but maybe in some small way I can help make things better," said Silena.

"Don't know when you'll be back?" asked Beckendorf as he took a step closer to Silena and held her hands in his.

"No, but I'll be counting the days till I'm with you again," said Silena as she gazed into Beckendorf's eyes.

Chiron motioned for everyone to turn around in order to give Silena and Beckendorf some more privacy.

"So I hear the Yankees are doing well this year," said Bobby in an awkward attempt to make conversation.

"Hey Silena, was it true what you said, about Bobby's well defined abs?" asked Beckendorf.

Silena blushed a little at this, "I didn't know you'd be reading my journals too, but to tell you the truth it wasn't much of a consolation given how much of a pain Pendragon was."

"So they're something I've been wanting to do, I… I've been meaning to do it for a while."

"Oh! Anything in particular?"

"It's kind of a surprise, close your eyes and no peeking," said Beckendorf.

Silena closed her eyes and crossed her fingers thinking it was what she thought it was, the instant she felt Beckendorf's lips press against hers in a kiss she knew it was. In the one amazing instant the whole world seemed to stop spinning for Silena and Beckendorf as a shower of happiness and good feelings cascaded over every inch of their bodies. After they kissed they just looked at each other, smiling and holding hands.

"That was the best surprise I've ever received!" said Silena.

"I've got a few more waiting for you, when you get back," said Beckendorf.

"I'll be writing… it's kind of part of the whole Traveler thing," laughed Silena.

"I'll be reading… it's kind of part of the whole acolyte thing," laughed Beckendorf.

"Hey Romeo and Juliet are you gonna be much longer? We're kind of on a time sensitive mission here," called Bobby.

"You can't rush romance! Gods, are you that dense Pendragon?"

Beckendorf and Silena hugged a few more times and Beckendorf was able to sneak in another kiss, this time on the cheek, and even though it was hard they said their goodbyes.

"This isn't goodbye for good, as soon as I'm done on Veelox I'll be back at Camp Half-Blood," said Silena.

"I'll be looking forward to your journals and that day," said Beckendorf.

Now that Silena and Beckendorf were satisfied Bobby took the opportunity to have a private moment of his own with Courtney, and when they took a while it presented Silena the prefect opportunity to get back at them.

"Hey Paris and Helen are you done yet? I thought we were on a time sensitive mission!" quipped Silena.

"Okay fair point princess! Courtney, Mark, I'll see you guys soon, and I'll keep writing. Patrick, Silena, let's ride," said Bobby.

As Patrick drove the convertible towards New York Bobby and Silena waved back to all their friends until they couldn't be seen any more.

"You know I think we're gonna see Bobby Pendragon and Silena Beauregard again real soon," said Mark.

"You know peewee I think I can agree with ya on that one," said Clarisse as she punched Mark playfully on the arm.

Everyone exchanged some goodbyes, with Mark and Courtney assuring Clarisse and Beckendorf that if they ever needed any help with Traveler stuff that they'd always be available.

"Chiron are we in trouble?" asked Beckendorf as he and Clarisse loaded into their van, and Chiron loaded into his, which was being driven by Argus.

"Well I ought to revoke your dessert privileges and put you on dishwashing duty for running away from camp, but seeing as you're both acolytes on official business involving your duties I'm gonna let it slide," said Chiron with a warm smile and a wink.

As they were following Chiron and Argus' van Clarisse and Beckendorf began to her a strange, yet sweet, musical tune.

"You got the radio on?" asked Clarisse.

"No I…"

"The ring!" the both said in unison.

As much as Beckendorf wanted to experience the spectacular array of light and music he had to keep his eyes on the road, for there was no place to pull over. When they finally got to camp after what seemed like an eternity they took the new journal to the Big House, where Chiron assured them they'd have total privacy whenever they need to read a journal or whenever the ring activated. Silena's first journal from Veelox was a strange silver device that kind of looked like an iPod with three buttons marked Play, Stop, and Rewind. Beckendorf pushed the play button and a life-sized hologram of Silena flickered to life and the journal began.

**So what did you think? Next chapter we'll catch up with Silena on Veelox. Please review! =) **


	9. Chapter 9

Journal #3

Veelox

Hey guys! So if you're watching this you must know that on Veelox they've got holographic recording technology, and it's simply fabulous! It makes recording everything in my journals much easier.

Anywho I should start thing off where you last saw me; so Bobby, Patrick and I were in that silver convertible racing towards New York and the flume.

"Couldn't we have just used the flume in that abandon house back in Stony Brook? That's the one I came thru when we got back from Denduron," I said.

"It's very important that we use the one in New York, I'll explain when we get there," said Bobby.

When we finally made it to the flume, after a carefully working our way along the subway track (the whole time Patrick cringed at how grimy it was, and I had to agree with him) we made our way safely to the flume.

"Is there anything else I can do Pendragon?" asked Patrick.

"No you've done all you can, and I'm grateful," said Bobby.

I could tell Patrick didn't travel much just by to wild look in his eyes as he faced the flume and called out "Third Earth!" Soon the flume came to life and carried Patrick away.

"Okay Pendragon spill, what's the big reason?" I asked point-blank.

"Halla's changed, you're proof of that. And if that so… look I'm probably taking a shot in the dark here, but if you could just out the name of a territory into the flume after I leave it might be able to save some friends of time, fellow Travelers you know."

"Well what do I need to say?"

"Eelong, that's it. I'm banking on not only Halla changing but the fact that Travelers can bring other Travelers back to life thru sheer will power…"

"We can do what?"

"I've seen it before; I brought Loor back that way. Maybe it has something to do with our healing powers… oh who am I kidding, I've got no clue how it works! Point is Travelers aren't like other people from our territories, you especially. Good luck, I'm counting on you… we're all counting on you," said Bobby, he then faced the flume and shouted "Ibara!" and was taken away by the flume.

Okay I had no clue what Bobby had just told me, but I had to trust that what he had told me was the way it was meant to be. So I gazed into the vastness of the flume, just a little afraid Saint Dane might pop out unexpectedly, but I had to put that thought out of my head. It occurred to me that maybe if I used my charmspeaking I might be a bit more effective, so I called out in my most confident charmspeaking voice "Eelong!" Instantly I found out how cloths feel when they're in the washing machine.

Instead of a gentle tug like I usually felt when the flume activates I was harshly jerked into the flume. I was moving way faster than usual but instead of a single strait path the flume bucked, dipped, swirled, and loop-de-looped suddenly and without warning.

"I take it back! Veelox, Second Earth, Camp Half-Blood, anywhere but here! Help!" I screamed, even though it didn't really help much.

As the flume continued to violently change paths I began to feel light headed and dizzy and soon I blacked out. When I regained consciousness I could feel that I was lying on cold smooth stone, and I could sense that there were about three people near me.

"Hobey! She must have gotten into a real tum-tigger!" said a guy's voice that sounded kind of Australian.

"Be careful! We don't know how bad she's hurt, even the slightest touch might make things worse!" said a girl's voice.

"Hold on you two, looks like she's comin' around!" said a voice that sounded like an older guy.

When my eyes focused to the light I noticed an old African-American man, who was dressed like he was from the turn of the century, leaning over me and smiling.

"Who… who are you?" I asked weakly.

"The name's Vincent Van Dyke, but you can call me Gunny."

"Hey Gunny is she… Hobey Ho, she's hot!" said the Australian sounding guy, who looked kind of Asian and looked about my age.

"Now Spader is that any way to introduce yourself to a young lady?" scolded Gunny.

"It is on Cloral!" said Spader.

"It's okay Gunny; I tend to have that effect on boys, I'm Silena Beauregard by the way" I said.

"Oh look another Gar Traveler, how original… not!"

When saw how the female voice belonged to I screamed at the top of my lungs, because it belong to a huge, ferrous, jungle cat! No seriously, there was jungle cat at the mouth of the flume with us.

"What is that thing?" I screamed.

"That thing has a name you know!" said the jungle cat, sounding kind of ticked.

"Oh don't be scared that's just Kasha, she doesn't bite… much," teased Spader.

As I began to calm down a little I noticed that Kasha had a ring on her paw (or finger, do cats even have fingers?) a Traveler's ring! I looked over at Gunny and Spader and saw they had Traveler's rings too… wait a minute I remember reading about them in Bobby's journals!

"I've read about you guys in Pendragon's journals! Gunny you're the Traveler from First Earth, Spader's the Traveler from Cloral, and Kasha's the Traveler from… okay I didn't finish all the journals but um… Eelong right?"

Kasha nodded, "Pretty good, so where are you from?"

"Oh that's easy, I'm from Camp Half-Blood!"

"That's a funny name for a territory, but what do I know I've only been a Traveler for… well there was that time with Pendragon on Eelong, but then… well I remember being some place bright and warm and happy, and my father and mother where there and… then I was here but… but that makes no sense!" said Kasha.

"Hey Kasha this is going to sound weird but… where you dead anytime recently?" I asked.

Gunny and Spader looked at me like I knew something I shouldn't (which technically I did), but it was Kasha who was really freaked by this.

"No! What kind of question is that? This is why Klee should be the Travelers and…"

"Kasha that's not entirely true," said Gunny in his calm soothing voice.

"What are you…"

"When Pendragon's acolytes came to Eelong it caused great stress on the flume, and eventually the flume gave when you and Pendragon where following Saint Dane to Zadaa. Now what's important to remember is they didn't know they weren't supposed to use the flumes without a Traveler, and if it weren't for them the Gars would have been killed by that poison from Cloral, and all of us with them, but all the same when they used the flume without a Traveler and the flume gave way and one of the stone hit you on the head… and it killed you."

At first nobody said a word, nothing but dead silence filled the flume, but then Kasha broke out laughing hysterically.

"What's so funny Kasha?" asked Gunny.

"You, all of you! At first I actually bought all of this stuff about magical Gars and other worlds, but now I see the truth: it's all in my head! Now all I have to do is close my eyes and when I wake up I'll be back in Leeandra with Boon and my father and all of you will be gone, and everything will be back to normal."

Kasha settled into her spot and closed her eyes; Spader put a finger to his lips for us to be quiet as she sneak over to Kasha, leaned in close to her face, and tapped her on the head.

"Hobey Ho Kasha! So how's that plan workin' out for ya?"

"Okay that's not normal," groaned Kasha in disappointment.

"Kasha I know this is a lot to take in, I just figured out I was a Traveler myself, but if you just stay with it a bit longer it'll all make sense," I said as soothingly as possible.

"Well as much as I'd love to stay and chat I think they'll be needing me on… Eelong!"

At Kasha's command the flume activated, but unlike all the times I'd been thru the flume (not counting my last voyage) it kind of sounded like an old car engine trying to sputter to life. The light and music began to grow closer, but then sputtered before ultimately dying down.

The look on Kasha's face was a mixture of panic and pure terror, after a few more failed attempts to get the flume the activate Kasha collapsed to the floor in defeat.

"I'm stuck, stranded away from all my friends and home, the only Klee in a world filled with Gar."

Gunny walked over to Kasha and put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her with his wise old eyes.

"It's not as bad as it may seems, even now on Eelong the flume is repairing itself. You may be stuck at the moment, but maybe this is the way it was meant to be, a way of getting you to accept your Traveler duties."

Kasha sighed, "I don't like this, but what choice do I have? So where are we exactly?"

"Well that I don't know, why do we have a look?" said Gunny.

We found that the flume was located near an abandoned subway track, kind of like the one on Second Earth. From what I remembered of Bobby's journal from Veelox that there was an entrance to the surface via a manhole just a little bit from where we were. When we got out I got to see how truly horrible things were on Veelox; image a city like on Second Earth, only there's not enough people to run all the essential services, pretty soon would start to crumble to bits, if you can envision that you'd have a pretty good idea of what Rubic City, the city we were in, is like.

"Okay this is supposed to be a territory dominated by Gars, so where are they?" asked Kasha.

"We need to find a big black pyramid, that's where all the people are and where we'll find Aja Killian, she's the Traveler from Veelox," I said.

As we walked the desolate streets of Rubic City I could hear a sound coming near us, it was a kind of squeaky noise that was a little like a bike chain the hasn't been oiled. It wasn't long before I saw the source of the noise, I can't say for sure but it looked like some sort of peddle powered car, and in the driver's seat was a girl around me and Spader's age with long blonde hair tied back in a tight ponytail, blue eyes, and she was wearing a blue jumpsuit and wire-rimmed yellow tinted glasses; she was Aja Killian, the Traveler from Veelox. The instant Aja saw Kasha she nearly wrecked the peddle car the way Patrick nearly wrecked the convertible when he first saw Chiron.

"Run away! Run away before that wild animal gets you!" screamed Aja.

"Oh you're one to talk, have you seen this place?" shot back Kasha.

Aja slammed on the brakes and stared wide-eyed at Kasha, "Y-you can talk?"

"Duh! Me and all the other Klee, you know for a Traveler you sure are… well Pendragon wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed."

"You knew Pendragon?"

"Is there any Traveler who doesn't know Pendragon?" I interjected.

Aja shifted her gaze to me, the look in her eyes like she was sizing me up and trying to categorize me.

"You're that new Traveler… Silena right?"

"Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite and Traveler from Camp Half-Blood!" I responded perkily.

Aja looked like she had a bad taste in her mouth, "Yes you're one of those demigod things. Well I guess I ought to show you about how things work here on Veelox and what Lifelight is, anyone have any questions before we continue? Yes Mr. Van Dyke?"

"Please call me Gunny, and I'm a little curious, what's this gloid stuff I keep seeing all these shops advertising?"

"That's something I'll have to show you, yes Spader?"

"Are you seeing anyone?"

"Oh yeah, in fact I'm engaged to be married!" said Aja hotly.

"I doubt it!" said Spader with a huge grin on his face.

"Anyone else care to ask any more dumb questions? No? Then everyone into the car!" said Aja in an all business, no nonsense kind of manner.

As we peddled thru the city one structure began to dominate the view, it was a huge black pyramid that was responsible for the sad situation this territory was in; it was the Lifelight pyramid of Rubic City.

"So why exactly have you guys come to Veelox if you don't mind me asking?" inquired Aja.

"Silena's really the one you should be asking, the rest of us kind of got dragged alone for the ride unexpectedly," said Kasha.

"Well I guess it all started when I first discovered I was a Traveler…"

"Only the information that's most relevant," said Aja, almost robotically.

"Well I read about how bad things are on Veelox and I wanted to do something about it. So as a daughter of Aphrodite I have the power to charmspeak, which is a fancy, fancy way of saying that I'm way better at persuading people than a normal Traveler. Soooo if I go into Lifelight I might be able to persuade some of the people to get out of it and live in the real world; it wouldn't be everyone, but maybe enough to help rebuild some of Veelox, and maybe start like Lifelighters Anonymous or something to help those still in Lifelight," I said.

As we pulled up to the Lifelight pyramid Aja looked at me like she wanted so desperately to believe me, but at the same time she looked skeptical of it all.

"Cute plan and all but… Veelox's turning point has passed, we've failed, all us Travelers. But all the same I guess it's worth a shot, what have I got to lose?"

Aja took us to the front desk of the building where this Goth guy, who kind of looked like an older version of Nico, sat in front of this portrait of a hunky hot guy who looked around sixteen. As soon as the Goth guy saw Kasha his eyes bulged out of their sockets.

"Okay like I'm not the only one seeing this am I?" asked the Goth guy as he kept feeling his wrist for something.

"The big cat is normal," said Aja in her most soothing voice possible.

"The big cat is normal," repeated the Goth guy like he was in a trance.

Aja took a hand full of silver bracelets from the Goth guy, as I put mine on I noticed that they each had three buttons, no clue what for. Next Aja brought us to a room where we each pick out a green jumpsuit, which were defiantly low on the fashion scale but Aja insisted we wear them. We walked down a hall of glass walls until we made it to a room where people who looked not much older than Aja where wearing identical blue jumpsuits to hers and were watching screen that displayed the jumps (the term for when someone enters Lifelight) of everyone in Lifelight.

"So this is the main control center; I'm senior phader here at the Rubic City Lifelight pyramid, and it's the phader's job to monitor the jumps to make sure nothing goes wrong, and those people in the red jumpsuits are the vedders, they take care of physical needs of the jumpers such as feeding and cleaning them," explained Aja.

"Ew, being a vedder sounds gross," I remarked.

"I'm with you there, it's a disgusting job, being a phader's much cleaner."

Aja took us up an elevator in the center of the pyramid and across a cat walk (which was gave me a vertigo attack) and sent us two to a room, me and Gunny in one room, and Spader and Kasha in the other. Once inside the room two silver disks popped out of the wall to reveal a little bed thingy that lead into a tube.

"Alright this is it, just lay down and relax, once you're in the jump press the button on the on the far right and I'll be able to talk to you and explain Lifelight in more detail," said Aja.

I lay down and let the bed retreat into the wall, at first it felt a little claustrophobic, but then I opened my eyes to find myself in… a boutique on 5th Avenue! I had officially jumped into Lifelight.

**So what's the verdict? Leave a comment because you know how I like those! =)**


	10. Chapter 10

Journal #3, continued

Veelox

I twirled around to take everything in, the cute cloths, the even cuter shoes, the people all around me, it was all so realistic. I was about to push the button to talk to Aja when I saw her, she was elegant and graceful without even trying, her sense of fashion was second to none, she was my mom Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and love.

"What do you think Silena, the teal one or the lavender?" asked mom as she held up to absolutely gorgeous dresses.

"Defiantly lavender!" I said, so happy to have a rare shopping excursion with my mom.

As we tried on clothes and shoes galore I saw a super-cute pair of stilettos that I just had to have! As I rushed towards the shoes I became aware of the bracelet on my wrist, and I remember that this was all just an illusion created by Lifelight. With a sigh I pushed the button on my bracelet and an image of Aja formed.

"Finally! Though you'd never push the button, but that tends to happen to first-time jumpers," said Aja.

"So all of this, it's all in my head?" I asked.

"Precisely, Lifelight works by scanning your mind to create a prefect version of reality; however, since your mind often has several thoughts running thru it at once Lifelight focuses on your particular fantasy of the moment, but if you want to change your fantasy push the button on the far left."

"So like if I wanted there to be a Jacuzzi in the middle of this boutique I could?"

"If such a thing could happen in real life; like I said Lifelight is a perfect version of reality, if you know for sure that you couldn't do something, like for example flying, then you can't do it in Lifelight," said Aja.

I pushed the button on the far left and then you walked in Clarisse (well it was a fake you created by Lifelight, but you know what I mean).

"Hey Silena I'm going pegasus riding later, you in?" asked Lifelight Clarisse.

As much as I wanted to save the people of Veelox from the allure of Lifelight I was beginning to see why they wanted to spend all their time in here.

"So what's the middle button for?" I asked.

"It lets you end you your jump, by the way I timed this jump for twenty minutes," said Aja.

"Only twenty? Oh come on Aja, just a little longer, it's soooo perfect in here!"

"And now you see the problem, Lifelight's so perfect that if I let you do that you'd want more and more time until you were like all the other jumpers."

I sighed in defeat and readied myself the exit the jump when Aja started to look troubled.

"What?"

"Nothing, just a minor glitch in the programing, nothing serious. You can push the button to end the jump now."

I pushed the center button and… nothing happened. I pushed the button a few more times and still nothing happened, I looked to Aja for an explanation, but she just looked panicked.

"Impossible, we got rid of that a long time ago!" muttered Aja to herself.

"Got rid of what?" I asked.

Aja was about to say something when suddenly and without warning a huge pack of hellhounds burst into the store! All the customers screamed at the top of their lungs and ran for the exit, but not before the hellhounds got a few of them. I looked around for my mom and Clarisse, but then I remembered they were only illusions created by Lifelight, it was kind of scary how realistic it all was.

What was even scarier was when one of the hellhounds pinned me to the floor, it's claws slashed my shoulder and I actually felt the pain, I also felt it's drool drip onto my face (one word: gross!).

"Aja I can't actually be hurt or killed in Lifelight right? I mean if I were killed the jump would just end and I'd be okay right?" I whimpered.

"Usually," replied Aja grimly.

"What do you mean usually?"

"You've read Pendragon's journals right? Did you ever get to the part about the Reality Bug?"

"Well I kind of skimmed thru that one, what was the Reality Bug again?" I asked.

"Silena! Not exactly the best time to ask about these things!" said Aja.

The hellhound was still just standing there, ready to strike at me in an instant but still not doing anything; I had to reach for my bracelet and give the center button another push (hey I was desperate, what else could I do?) , so I kicked the hellhound in the stomach. The ferocious beast yelped and jumped away in surprise, I pushed the button and… suddenly a taxi pulled up to the curb.

"Don't just stand there, get inside!" called the cabbie.

I realized I had accidentally pushed the far left button, the change the jump button, but I wasn't complaining; I dove into the cab and the drive floored it away from the hellhounds.

"Well wrong button, but that worked out pretty well," said Aja.

I jumped as soon as I saw her appear from apparently nowhere until I remember it was only her image.

"You scared me! Um… yeah, so will it work now?" I asked.

"Give it a try, it's worth a shot."

I closed my eyes and pressed the center button, when I opened my eyes again I was back in the jump tube, which was pulling out of the wall. I got up from the bed of the tube I looked over to Aja, who was typing furiously on a computer located between the two jump tubes. I felt my shoulder, where the hellhound had scratched me still hurt and my jumpsuit was ripped around my shoulder.

"So what's this Reality Bug exactly?" I asked.

"Can't talk, must phade!" said Aja, her eyes glued completely to the screen.

I just sat there for a moment, not really much to do, then Gunny's jump tube pulled out of the wall and it was around then that Spader and Kasha walked in.

"Everyone… is here!" said Aja as she collapsed exhausted into her chair.

"So what did you guys do in your jumps?" I asked in an attempt to make conversation.

"I was back on Eelong! It was so great… until a huge pack of tangs swarmed Leeandra!" said Kasha.

"Oh… what are tangs?"

"There a real natty-do, real nasty wogglies, kind of look like… oh what did Pendragon call'em… dinosaurs, velociraptors, something like that," said Spader.

Okay from what I knew of Kasha's home territory of Eelong so far I knew that cats were the dominate species, they had dinosaurs running around like crazy, and apparently humans were considered to be like animals until relatively recently, could this get any weirder?

"I remember the president himself paid a visit to the Manhattan Tower Hotel and I was calling all the shots and everything was perfect… until some gangsters dropped by for an assassination attempt," said Gunny.

"And I was havin' some Sniggers with me mates on Grallion and then pirates attacked!" said Spader.

"It was the Reality Bug, I designed it as a way of making the jumps less than perfect so that people would chose real life over Lifelight, but it got out of control because Saint Dane corrupted it… and then came Pendragon and we saved the day by shutting off Lifelight… until Saint Dane, disguised as Dr. Kree Sever, turned it back on, thus creating the predicament we find ourselves in. And how much you want to bet Saint Dane's behind the reappearance of the Reality Bug?" said Aja.

"But wouldn't that be counterproductive to his plans?" I asked.

"One mystery at a time, please," groaned Aja with her hands over her face.

We went back to the main control room to see how the Reality Bug had affected the other jumps. When we got there all the phaders and vedders were running around screaming like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off.

"What's the cause of this?" asked Aja to one of the vedders.

"Run away! It's not safe, she'll get you!" screamed the vedder before running off.

"Look I've already told all of you the cat is…"

"No, no, no! We were just monitoring the jumps and everything was going fine… but then she came!" said one of the phaders.

"Who? Tell me who!" demanded Aja as she grabbed the phader by his shoulders.

"It didn't get a good look at her face, probably for the best because everyone who looked into her eyes got turned to stone…"

"Is her name Medusa, and does she have snakes for hair?" I asked.

"How'd you know?"

Minotaur on Denduron, Hydra on Zadaa, and now Medusa on Veelox; if there were any clearer case of mixing the territories it was the presence of these monsters on the other territories of Halla, but was it Saint Dane who had brought them there or were bigger forces at work? Most of the phaders and vedders were so spooked by the encounter with Medusa that many of them refused to touched the petrified phaders and vedders or even to continue working, but Aja delivered a rousing speech about the importance of looking after the jumpers in hopes of one day achieving a better Veelox, and the phaders and vedders (somewhat reluctantly) went back to work. Aja decided that with all the day's excitement it would be best for us to head to her home, which happened to be the mansion of Dr. Kree Sever (aka Saint Dane), where she lived with her acolyte Evangeline.

Evangeline was elegant and graceful in an older woman kind of way with her silver hair tied back in a ponytail like Aja's, fortunately she wasn't nearly as stoic and serious as Aja, Hades, she gave each of us a hug the instant she saw us and didn't even freak out when she saw Kasha!

"Oh it's so wonderful to have guest in the house! Oh and one of them is a fine young man that you can go on dates with Aja!" said Evangeline.

"Evangeline!" Aja complained.

"Oh come on Aja, what's the worst that could happen?" teased Spader.

"I can make a list of things that could happen if we went on a date!"

"Ooh dating! I'm totally good with that sort of stuff!" I said.

"Today just hates me!" muttered Aja to no one in particular.

"Aw cheer up Aja, tonight we're having your favorite, tri-colored gloid!" said Evangeline.

The best way I can describe gloid is that it's a kind of gelatin-like substance that comes in twelve different flavors; the tri-colored gloid we had consisted of an orange band that had a nutty flavor to it, a purple band that tasted like berries, and a blue band that tasted like… oh dear gods let's not go there! I wasn't sure if you're supposed to eat each band individual like Evangeline did or mix them with each scope like Aja did, I opted for the Aja method because the flavor of the orange and purple canceled out the blue flavor. The gloid wasn't much but it was defiantly filling and (as Aja assured me) nutritious, if it was brought to Second Earth it would be the ultimate diet food… but that would be mixing the territories.

"So in his journals Bobby said something about the guy who created Lifelight, Dr. Zetlin I think, could he know something of how to defeat the reality bug, and more importantly who was they hunky guy in the portrait?" I asked.

"That is Dr. Zetlin, but he's been missing for days. He said he was on a special mission and jumped into Lifelight, but he's been missing ever since," said Aja.

"We should total go after him! If we find him we could like totally defeat the Reality Bug and get that much closer to saving the people of Veelox!" I said.

"Congratulations, that the first smart thing you've said since I got to know you!" said Aja.

"Thanks I… hey!"

As we got our rooms for the night Evangeline gave us all these recording devises that I recorded this journal on, and I took the time to get some of this down that night. I've got to say this is way more convenient than writing it all down. Anyway I was lying awake not really able to sleep so I got up to walk around, and that's when I heard Aja and Evangeline talking and I decided to be sneaky and eavesdrop.

"Oh come on Aja, just give him a chance!" pleaded Evangeline.

"For the last time Evangeline I'm not going on a date with Spader!"

"But you did so well on all those blind dates I set you up on…"

"Who's kidding who Evangeline? You know I bombed those dates, I'm just not mean for love."

"That's why you should give Spader a chance, maybe he's the one."

"Evangeline if there is anyone who could possibly be my potential boyfriend it is defiantly not Vo Spader!" said Aja.

There's a lot of things about being a Traveler that I'm just not good at; I'm not a warrior like Loor and Alder, I'm not a brainiac like Patrick and Aja, but when it comes to dating I'm second to none! It was defiantly going to be a stretch, but there was just something about Aja and Spader that reminded me of Annabeth and Percy, and they're practically girlfriend and boyfriend as it is (thanks in part to yours truly), so how hard could it be. I spent all night running thru possible scenarios of getting Aja and Spader together, but I made sure to get my beauty sleep. The next morning we enjoyed a breakfast… you guessed it, tri-colored gloid!

"I can't stand the blue gloid!" whispered Spader to me.

"Scoop them all together, the orange and purple cancel out the blue," I whispered.

"Snazzy-do! Where'd you learn that trick?"

"Aja showed me, she's so smart like that!"

"Well she's certainly a brainy one, and those eyes of hers remind me of the clear blue waters of Cloral," mussed Spader.

Yay, my plan was working! But I had assumed Spader would be easy, the hard part was going to be defrosting the ice queen (aka Aja Killian).

"Why Evangeline that blue gloid is something else! How do you make it?" said Gunny as he gazed happily at Evangeline.

"Why thank you Gunny, it certainly takes skill to scoop gloid out of a container! And it's true, blue is the best!" giggled Evangeline.

"You gars have the weirdest taste in food," whispered Kasha.

"Well they are old, there sense of taste may not be what it used to be," I whispered.

"Well there's that."

After we had all finished our gloid Aja gave a briefing about the next step in our mission in Lifelight.

"Okay everyone we've got a big day ahead of us; now I've got a lead on where Dr. Zetlin may be but we can't throw you guys into the fry just yet, so we're going to send you guys thru a few training exercises inside Lifelight first. Second we've got to figure out where Medusa is and what she's doing on Veelox, so that will also be a major objective. Any questions, yes Silena."

"So which do you prefer, candle-lit dinners on the roof of a building or stair-lit get-aways on the beach?"

"And this has what to do with our objectives for the day?" asked Aja with a critical glair.

"Nothing really… I was just wondering," I said, trying to look as innocent as possible.

As we rode the peddle car towards the Lifelight pyramid I swore I saw Aja glance in Spader's general direction, of course she might have been checking for Medusa but something told me otherwise. After we all suited up in our jumpsuits Aja led us to a different set of rooms in the elevator, this time it was Spader and I to one room and Gunny and Kasha to the other. In this new room the tube came with two black hose-thingies that corresponded to the two patches on our jumpsuits.

"These are the tubes used for long term jumps, one feeds gloid that's then absorbed by the skin to provide nutrition, and the other absorbs waste by breaking it down to the basest elements and vacuuming it out," explained Aja.

"How does that work exactly?" I asked.

"It's complicated, you probably wouldn't understand," shot back Aja.

Aja wasn't telling us about training in order to keep us on our toes, so going in we had no idea what to expect. As soon as the tube began to retreat into the wall I closed my eyes and when I open them… I saw pagodas, cherry blossom trees, Zen rock gardens, cute little Japanese bridges over a cute little stream, it was like were in ancient Japan. I saw I was wearing a kimono and everyone else was dressed in traditional Japanese attire (but on the male end for Gunny and Spader).

"This reminds me of something I saw in a movie once, but what was it about?" I wondered out loud.

I soon got my answer when a group of ninjas jumped down from out of nowhere, and one of them had piercing pure blue eyes.

"Pardon me I do believe I forgot a proper welcome, well better late than never as they say! Welcome to Veelox Travelers!" hissed Saint Dane.

**Well what did you think? Leave a comment by clicking the button! =)**


	11. Chapter 11

Journal #3, continued

Veelox

This could not be happening! How could Saint Dane be in Lifelight, how? It didn't matter how it was possible, what matter was that Saint Dane was in the jump, and he had an army of ninjas!

"Oh they're really scary! What'cha gonna do, sleep us to death?" laughed Spader, but he stopped laughing as soon as the ninja threw the star-thingies at him and came this close to hitting him.

"Well look at all of you, back from the dead and back from Eelong, looks like our little Silena is capable of more than she seems!" said Saint Dane.

"Now let's not be hasty here Saint Dane, I'm sure we can work something out without fighting," said Gunny.

"My sentiments exactly! Now if Silena would come with me and my friends here…"

"What makes you think she's going anywhere with you?" snarled Kasha as she stood in front of me protectively.

Saint Dane's evil smile grew even wider, "Why Kasha you do care about Silena! You know it's a good thing too, because if you didn't things would be the way they were originally, and it would feel a little something like this!"

Saint Dane put his hand on Kasha's head and she screamed with pain the way I had when Saint Dane did it to me. I made me sick to my stomach how Saint Dane was actually enjoying this and I knew what pain Kasha must be feeling, I had to act.

"Leave her alone!" I said as I shoved Saint Dane, this caught him by surprise and he let go of Kasha.

"Naughty, naughty! And to think I was going to play nice for a change, oh guards!" said Saint Dane as he snapped his fingers.

Suddenly one of the ninjas grabbed me from behind and covered my mouth, I struggled to brake free but he was too strong and everyone else was dealing with ninjas of their own. Soon I began to feel lightheaded and dizzy, and then everything went black. When I woke up I was half expecting to find myself in the jump tube again, but no I was in a room that was like… something out of ancient Japan!

It was then that I became aware of the bracelet on my wrist and realized that I was still in the jump (oh great… not!).

"Care for some tea?"

I whirled around and found Saint Dane sitting at a table with a teapot and two glasses of tea.

"I'd sooner drink sewer water!" I said defiantly.

"That can be arranged," said Saint Dane, his fingers ready to summon the ninjas.

"What I really meant to say was, mmm tea!"

I was kind of nervous that the tea was drugged or something, but when I took a sip nothing happened, so I took a few more and I was still fine.

"You see Silena; I'm not a total monster."

"So why did you bring me here, and why are you mixing the territories by bringing monsters to other territories?" I asked.

"I'll answer the monster one first, it's a smaller matter. I had nothing to do with it at all!" said Saint Dane.

"Do you expect me to believe that lie?"

"But it's true my dear; Camp Half-Blood may have been a sub-territory for a small time but the gods have always known of Halla, and with Camp Half-Blood becoming a sub-territory monsters are being reincarnated as they always have, but now they get reincarnated on other territories. It's such a marvelous way to mix the territories," said Saint Dane.

"How is that marvelous? The territories have to be kept separate because…"

"Because they must have their own destinies because this is the way it was meant to be, blah, blah, blah! I've heard it a thousand times a thousand different ways and frankly it's getting old! Sure you Travelers label me bad when I bring a knife from Eelong to Quillan or a robot from Quillan to Ibara, but what you Travelers bring changes things even more: ideas! You say you're trying to make people choose their own destinies well I do the same, I just give them a push and give them what they want, and really what's it all worth in the end? Whether it's jumpers on Veelox, gangers on First Earth, agronomers on Cloral, or even demigods at Camp Half-Blood, the point is people are selfish and only think of themselves!"

"That's not true! Time and time again I've seen demigods committing selfless acts for one another, like when Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth were on their own, or when Clarisse spared me that one time during capture the flag, and don't even get me started on Percy. And it's not just demigods; look at average people on any given day preforming amazing acts of altruism and kindness! Yes there are bad people in the world, but there so much love and compassion that you can easily forget those bad things!" I said.

"May aren't we the little smart one! But tell me daughter of Aphrodite, even though such people exist how do their numbers compare to those humans who are just plain rotten, hmm?" asked Saint Dane with a sly smile on his face.

"W-well… in don't know, but… can I get back to you on this?" I asked nervously.

Saint Dane smiled triumphantly, "Very well, on to the second matter! Now that we've covered that Halla is a flawed place I propose to untie the territories so that we can tear it all down a rebuild Halla anew, and rebuild it better and in our image. Join me Silena; I'll make sure nothing happens to your little boyfriend Charlie, or your best friend Clarisse, or anyone else at that camp you care so much about, and all you have to do is except my vision for Halla, so simple as that!" said Saint Dane with his hand outstretched.

And I thought I was the persuasive one! Saint Dane's offer was incredibly tempting, even with all the evil and destruction that would result all I could think of was how much power I'd achieve if took him up, but more importantly I wanted to make sure you guys would be safe. Don't get me wrong I love that your both here for me in all this Traveler craziness, but I worry I may have put you both in serious danger by dragging you into all this.

Yet even as tempting as all that was I still remembered those simple words that Bobby taught me, and I knew that Saint Dane's plan was not the way it was meant to be.

"No deal Saint Dane, because this, me saying no to you, is the way it was meant to be!" I said.

I was prepared for Saint Dane to erupt with anger and rage, but instead he just shrugged and took another sip from his glass of tea.

"I figured as much, perhaps I did not articulate myself clearly enough, perhaps you're more resilient than I gave you credit for, but I understood this would happen. However, I am a reasonable fellow; I will give you another opportunity to choose my ways, but that's a matter for another time. But know this child of Aphrodite; the gods have mixed the territories more times than I have."

No sooner had Saint Dane finished than the wall burst open and out jumped Spader and Gunny in full samurai armor with Kasha following close behind. Before anyone had any time to react Saint Dane pushed tapped his wrist and vanished. We had to act fast; Saint Dane had been plugged into Lifelight and that meant he was in the pyramid which meant we had a chance to catch him.

With a quick push of the center button everything went black and I was back in the jump tube. I quickly unhitched the hose-thingies and bolted for the door, not really sure what I was going to do if I found the demon, but at that point I was running on pure adrenaline. It didn't take long before I saw him, he was right next to elevator; the demon smiled and gave a mock-salute and then he did something unexpected: he jumped over the edge of the railing! For a moment I just stood there in shock, waiting for the sound of Saint Dane smacking onto the floor below, when the sound didn't come I looked over the edge in time to see a huge raven swoop up!

As soon as I saw the blue eyes of the raven I knew it was Saint Dane, and it wasn't long before he dove down sharply and then out the door.

"He can turn into a bird?" I exclaimed.

"A bird, smoke, any person you can imagine, not really anything he can't turn into Shorti," said Gunny.

"Okay Saint Dane got away from us, but on the bright side you all did an excellent job under the circumstances… well except Silena," said Aja.

"Hello did you see me in there? Saint Dane tried to tempt me into his evil plan and I said no! And for that matter it takes a lot of guts to have tea with the demon who's trying to destroy Halla!" I countered.

"Oh sure, it takes real brains to see how completely evil his plan is!" said Aja sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

"No wonder you bombed all your dates, because dating takes heart, not a lump of coal!"

"You little sneak you were eavesdropping! Why I…"

"Girls, girls, let's all calm down here," said Gunny as he got in-between me and Aja.

"She called me heartless!" said Aja.

"Oh please you so don't need me to point that out!" I said.

"Oh you so don't need me to point that out!" mocked Aja in a really bad imitation of my voice.

"Now Aja I think we can all agree that for Silena did more than a good job handling her encounter with Saint Dane, and Shorti you should acknowledge that Aja's got a lot on her plate at the moment and she's more than a little stressed from all that," said Gunny in a soothing voice, and the weird thing was I actually felt calmer and I could tell Aja was feeling the same way.

Suddenly an alarm when off and I could hear the sound of panicked phaders and vedders; we all quickly made our way down the elevator and into the fray.

"Medusa's back isn't she?" asked Aja grimly.

"Yes! People are turning to stone left and right, how are we to defend ourselves against that we cannot face?" screamed one of the phaders.

"We have to do something! If we keep running away scared like this she'll keep turning everyone to stone until there's no one left but us! We need to stand our ground and fight!" I said, not really believing my own words.

"How are we supposed to do that? We don't have any weapons," pointed out Kasha.

"We can't, not on this territory, but on Denduron there's weapons and a Traveler who can teach us how to use them. Spader you're with me, Kasha no offense but the people on Denduron just got attacked by a Minotaur so you might freak them out, Gunny I think Evangeline said she needed you for something (because they totally have a thing for each other), and… that's everyone who matter!" I said, shooting a mean look at Aja.

"You really think a pampered little princess like you could survive Denduron?" asked Aja skeptically (gods she was just like Bobby!).

"Oh and like you'd do any better? In case you weren't aware there's no computers on Denduron, you'd be completely useless and just make things worse!"

I was about to come back with a rebuttal but then a thought occurred to me, if I took Aja with me it would be the perfect opportunity to break thru to her, or at the very least get back at her for being so heartless and cold.

"Actually change of plans, Spader you stay on Veelox, and Aja you're coming with me to Denduron."

Aja looked genuinely shocked by this, "Well… okay so… when do we leave?"

"The sooner the better, we can't bring anything with us to Denduron, and the sooner we get back the better."

Everyone else headed back to Dr. Sever's mansion and promised to do their best to find out what they could about Medusa's attacks (and not get turned to stone in the process) while Aja and I made our way down the manhole cover and toward the flume.

"So have you traveled before?" I asked casually as we walked down the abandoned subway track.

"Me? Sure plenty of times, you?" said Aja.

"Well I'm from Camp Half-Blood and Second Earth, and I've been to Denduron, Zadaa, and of course Veelox. What about you?"

"Hey look a star! Must mean we're at the flume."

It was pretty obvious that Aja was ducking the question, but I'd inquirer about that later. As we faced the flume I turned to Aja and gave her a nod of encouragement.

"Denduron!" called Aja, and with that the flume sprang to life and pulled us in.

The way Aja looked was kind of weird, it was like she knew what to expect but at the same time traveling thru the flume looked like a new experience for her. Could Aja get any weirder? As I glanced out at the ghostly images beyond the walls of the flume I noticed that the images were more jumbled than last time, call me paranoid but that didn't seem good; soon the sweet jumble of music grew louder signal the end of our journey and soon we were deposited in the cave on Denduron.

"Oh my gods it's cold!" exclaimed Aja.

At the time it didn't strike me as odd that she had said "oh my gods", I guess figured it was part of my Traveler translator powers or I just wasn't paying attention as  
>I tossed Aja a pair of Denduron cloths.<p>

"Nice, a little crude compared to Veelox, but this leather is very soft and these jewels are exquisite," said Aja as she marveled at her Denduron cloths.

"I thought you said you'd traveled before," I said narrowing my eyes.

"I have… just not to Denduron, I'm used to more high tech territories is all."

"Oh! So you've been to Quillan, or perhaps Cloral, or the Earth territories, but then again Eelong is sort of advanced-ey…"

"Are we just gonna stand around all day talking about my travels or are we going to get to that village at the bottom of the mountain?" snapped Aja in her usual matter-of fact tone.

"Okay, gods I was just asking!"

In no time at all we were speeding down the mountain and not long after that we made it to the Milago village, where Alder was eagerly waiting to give me a hug.

"Oh I just knew you would return to Denduron Silena, I just knew you would!" said Alder.

"Easy Alder you're gonna suffocate me!" I laughed.

"I am sorry Silena, I am just so happy to see you again. And who is this you have brought with you?" asked Alder as he gave Aja a hug.

"Aja Killian, the Traveler from Veelox. Now if you'd stop hugging me we have some serious business to attend to!" said Aja.

"A monster named Medusa has shown up on Veelox, she can turn people to stone simply by looking at them, however, she can be slayed but we need Celestial Bronze weapons and someone to teach us how to use them. Can you help us?"

"Well I am a trained Bedoowan knight and I can help you in that regard, but I am sorry to say that we have not made any weapons since you were here last."

"Then in that case we should get some rest, we got a long hike up the mountain," I said.

"Seriously? Oh come on you have got to be… wait a minute does Denduron have three suns?" asked Aja as she stared at the setting suns and made her way out the door.

"Be careful Aja, there is…" but before Alder could finish Aja stepped right into a pile of horse poop.

"Gross! Vile! Disgusting! I know disinfectant would be stretch but surly you people have soap."

"What is soap?" asked Alder.

The look on Aja's face was priceless! Granted I myself wasn't too crazy about the lack of soap on Denduron, but that's why I've got my magical suitcase, and the chance to see Aja knocked off here high horse was totally worth it! I'm going to end the journal here guys, even though it was kind of breaking the rules Aja and I took our hologram recorders with us to get our journals down; the three of us are resting for the night on Denduron and tomorrow we're going to be heading for Second Earth to stop by the camp to pick up some supplies.

Can't wait to see you guys again!

End of Journal #3

**So how'd you like it? Next chapter we'll see what Clarisse, Beckendorf, and Chiron are up to at Camp Half-Blood. Until next time! **


	12. Chapter 12

Second Earth

As the hologram spoke the final words of Silena's journal from Veelox it slowly flickered out of appearance and the beams of light returned to the strange silver devise.

"So when do you think she's coming here?" asked Clarisse after a pause.

Chiron was about to say something when Clarisse's ring began to expand again and the dazzling lights and sweet musical notes returned. This time rather than depositing a journal the ring deposited a simple hand written note.

_P.S. If you're reading this it means Alder, Aja, and I have made it to Second Earth, but don't worry about giving us a ride, I charmspoke a taxi driver in giving us a ride to camp, we should be here in a few hours,_

_Love Silena._

"Does that answer your question?" asked Beckendorf jovially.

True to the note a few hours later there was a knock on the Big House door and in bounded Silena, Aja, and Alder.

"Charlie, Clarisse, Chiron, I'm back!" said Silena in an oddly energetic tone (even by her standards).

"It's good to see you too Silena, but perhaps we can wait till tomorrow for introductions seeing as it is four in the morning," yawned Chiron.

It was decided that Silena, Aja, and Alder would stay in the big house as Aja and Alder couldn't be place in cabins as they weren't demigods and Silena suddenly reappearing might arouse suspicion. The trios of Travelers adjusted well to Second Earth time and by next morning were still fast asleep.

"Morning sleepy head! You missed breakfast, but don't worry I snagged you some!" said Clarisse as she nudged Silena awake.

"Not now Clarisse, I'm in the middle of a blissful dream," sighed Silena as she pulled the blanked tighter over her head.

"Silena I really didn't want to do this but you leave me with no other choice: I'm tickling your feet!"

If there was one thing that was Silena's Achilles Heel it was having her feet tickled, and soon it she was giggled and wide awake.

"Okay stop it Clarisse, stop! Oh I had the most wonderful dream, and you were there and so was… wait why are you looking at me like that, and what's up with my voice, do I have cold or something?" asked Silena as Clarisse stared dumbstruck at her.

"Um… I don't think colds can make you look like… well maybe you should see for yourself."

When Silena stepped in front of the full-length mirror she screamed at the top of her lungs, because the image staring back at her was not her reflection; her long black hair had turned honey-blonde, her blue eyes had turned storm cloud-grey, and her fashionable cloths had turned into a simple Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and jeans.

"I… I look just like Annabeth! Everything's exactly like her!" stammered Silena as she explored every inch of her new body.

"Okay out of all the people to turn into you turn into Annabeth; that is wrong!" said Clarisse.

"What makes you think I turned into her? Doesn't it seem more likely that I switched bodies with… oh my gods that means she's in my body! Oh what if someone sees her, of what if she does something embarrassing or what if…"

"Get a grip on yourself girl! Deep breaths in, deep breaths out, better?"

"Yeah I guess a little, so what make you think I transformed into Annabeth?" asked Silena.

"What's all the yelling about?" yawned Aja as she stretched sleepily.

When Aja put on her glasses and Silena and Clarisse explained the situation her eyes went wide.

"That idea you had about Silena transforming into this Annabeth girl, that might have some merit to it," said Aja.

"What do you mean?" asked Clarisse.

"Well Saint Dane is a Traveler, an evil one but a Traveler none the less, and Nevva Winter was the Traveler from Quillan before Saint Dane corrupted her, and they both can transform into anyone so maybe it's an ability all Travelers share."

"Okay so it's a skill we all have but it takes time to master so... gah! I've got Annabeth's body, which means I ought to have her brain, but I'm still not any smarter than I was before, that is so unfair!" exclaimed Silena.

"Hmm why is it easier for you? Well as far as I know you're the first demigod Traveler, and there were those changes in Halla when Camp Half-Blood became a sub-territory…"

"Question: if Camp Half-Blood is a sub-territory how come it doesn't have a flume of its own?" interjected Clarisse.

"Yeah that is weird, and how come…"

"I don't have all the answer to this Traveler stuff okay! And you better savor that because I don't admit stuff like that often!" snapped Aja.

Suddenly Silena began to ripple like she was made of water, her blonde her became shoulder-length and jet-black, her gray eyes turned electric-blue, and her cloths turned into a sort of punk/goth style.

"Oh my gods now I turned into Thalia!" exclaimed Silena.

"Well look on the bright side, now we know you turn into the people rather than switching bodies," said Clarisse.

"And for your information Aja I was going to say where's Alder!"

"Yeah well… that's a good question, where is Alder?" asked Aja.

"I think I saw him hanging out with Beckendorf over at the camp forge, and maybe if we find Chiron he'll be able to explain about Silena's new power, let's go!" said Clarisse

Meanwhile at the camp forge Beckendorf and Alder were busily making a list of all the things the Travelers would need when they returned to Veelox, and Beckendorf was taking it as an opportunity to size up Alder. In a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and jeans Alder looked like another camper rather than a knight from a distant territory, he was exactly like Silena had described him in her journals, defiantly not her type, and defiantly not a threat to Beckendorf forming a relationship with Silena.

"That should be the last of it, if we didn't have anything on this list we can always forge it," said Beckendorf.

"No I do not think we will need to forge anything, we already have accumulated enough weapons as it is," said Alder.

Just as Alder and Beckendorf had finished loading the last of the weapons onto their cart Jake Mason walked up to them with a pack of Cokes.

"Hey Beckendorf and… Alder right? Anyway I snagged these from the Stoll brothers, cost me a pretty drachma but it was worth it, care for some?"

"It's a little early for Coke, it's not even past noon," remarked Beckendorf.

"Well you know what they say, it's five o' clock somewhere," said Jake as he popped a can of Coke and handed it to Alder.

Alder took one sip and instantly fell head-over-heels in love with the bubbly, sugary, sweet drink, and having never had Coke before the effects of the caffeine were extra strong on him.

"This sugary drink is amazing! It makes me regret that we do not have this… Coke I believe you called it, on Denduron," said Alder as he guzzled his umpteenth can of Coke.

"Hey I said you could have some, not all of it!" laughed Jake as he took the can from Alder.

"Well you know how Europeans are," said Beckendorf.

"Oh, is Denduron a country in Europe?" asked Jake.

"Oh yes, a very small one located in the former Yugoslavia, not much in the way of modern conveniences."

Jake just smiled and shrugged before shaking their hands goodbye (and nearly getting his hand crush by an overly enthusiastic Alder) and going on his way to the arts and crafts center. Not long after Jake left Clarisse arrived with Aja and (of all people) Thalia; sure he'd encountered Thalia at the camp before, but it was truly a shock to Beckendorf when Thalia rushed up to him and hugged him!

"Oh Charlie I may not have been gone that long, well really who can tell with the time between territories, but I still missed you sooooo much!"

Okay this could not be the real Thalia; she was acting way to girly for one thing, and for another she had called him Charlie, no one called him that except… a curios possibility crept into Beckendorf's mind.

"Silena, is that you?"

"Oh yeah, I guess you didn't recognize me in this form," said Silena sheepishly.

"It is you! But how did you turn into Thalia?"

"That's what I'd like to know! It all started this morning when I woke up and found I had turned into Annabeth, then we were talking and Aja yelled at me and I turned into Thalia, and when I transformed it was just like the way Saint Dane transforms," said Silena.

"Have you considered that it's an ability all Travelers share but only a few can control?" suggested Beckendorf.

"We already thought of that," said Aja.

"Okay maybe it's linked to emotion or you have to concentrate on the person you want to transform into."

"Well now that you mention it when Aja yelled at me it reminded me of that time Thalia yelled at me when we got into an argument over the Big Time Rush, who are totally hot not matter what she says!"

"Perhaps you should try focusing your mind in order to change," suggested Alder.

Silena closed her eyes and cleared her thoughts, then in her best charmspeaking voice she called out, "Become… Demi Lovato!"

There was a brief moment of suspense before Silena opened her eyes to find that… nothing at all had happened.

"Hmm… maybe I should have specified whether it was Demi Lovato in Sonny with a Chance or Demi Lovato in Camp Rock."

"Or it might only work for people you know personally," said Aja.

Silena though about all the people she could possibly turn into, but really she just wanted to be herself again, and with that thought in mind she began to transform again and when her image settle she was… her old self again!

"I did! I'm back to normal!"

"Well now that we've averted that crisis and have our supplies we have a new problem: how are we getting to the flume?" asked Aja.

"Well the nearest one is in New York and I guess Chiron could get us a van ride to the city, but can we stay just a little longer?"

"Hey Silena when you guys were in the city did you come directly here or did you make any stops?" asked Clarisse as she exchanged a nervous look with Beckendorf.

"No we came directly to camp… oh gods I forgot to check on my dad! Oh when we leave we have to go stop and see him!" said Silena.

"Uh you don't need to, me and Beckendorf took care of that for ya! But we didn't want to tell him right away about this Traveler stuff so we said you were on a special mission for the camp!" said Clarisse.

"Aw, you guys are the sweetest acolytes a Traveler could ask for!" said Silena as she hugged Clarisse and Beckendorf at the same time.

The group decided (on request from Silena) to squeeze in a little pegasus-ridding time after lunch and before they left for Veelox. As they walked towards the pegasus stables Silena and Alder rushed ahead (Alder was hyped up on Coke from lunch) and it gave Aja an opportunity to talk to Beckendorf and Clarisse alone.

"So have you broken it to her yet?"

"We're trying to delay that as much as possible," said Beckendorf grimly.

"Alright computer-girl I want answers and I want them now! What do you got against Silena?" demanded Clarisse.

"I… I… might have been afraid that she'd steal my thunder, I was… afraid of that when Pendragon first came to Veelox as well," stammered Aja as she slowly backed away.

Clarisse softened a bit at this, "I know how that feels, felt that way when Jackson and company showed up on my quest for the Golden Fleece. Okay and I don't say this a lot so take it while you can, maybe I overreacted, but just give Silena a chance, she can really grow on you."

Riding a pegasus was at once both the most trilling and perspective-changing experience of Aja's life. As she soared above the camp Aja imagined what it would be like to see Rubic City from the air, but especially what it would be like to see Rubic City from the air in its prime, before Lifelight took over; she supposed it would be easy enough to create a jump to that effect, but no that would be hypocritical, and better to experience it in real life.

"Is it always this amazing?" laughed Aja over the rush of the wind.

"Only every time!" replied Silena.

Aja looked around to make sure they were out of earshot of the other before choosing her next words, "Listen I just wanted to say… well maybe we got off on the wrong foot when you first came to Veelox so… forgive, forget, and start again?"

"Wellllll… sure! I hate holding grudges against people anyway, but one way or another I'm gonna get you and Spader together!"

"Keep dreaming Aphrodite-girl!" laughed Aja.

As the afternoon turned to evening and the sky turned a brilliant shade of orange the Travelers began to make preparations for their departure the next morning. Clarisse and Beckendorf rejoined the group in the Big House just to talk, when suddenly the stone in the center of Clarisse's ring began to glow.

"What the… I can't be getting a journal, you're right here Silena!"

"Wait a minute Clarisse take a look at it, when you moved your hand like that it got brighter!" said Silena.

Clarisse walked around the room to find which direction her ring glowed brightest in, and eventually she made her way to the door that lead to the basement of the Big House. As soon as she was in front of the door Clarisse yelled in pain because her ring was burning her finger and she quickly took it off and flung it to the floor. Everyone shielded their eyes as the ring let out wild beams of light, but not the colorful lights it usually did, this light was hot and kind of painful to watch; when the light stopped everyone opened their eyes to find a five-pointed star had been engraved onto the door.

"I believe Camp Half-Blood now has a flume of its own," said Alder in astonishment.

Sure enough when they opened the door and walked down the stairs the Travelers and acolytes found a tunnel made of gray rock that seemed to stretch into eternity located in the basement of the Big House.

"Okay so when do the quigs come?" asked Beckendorf nervously.

"Ah bring'em on, I can take'em!" said Clarisse as she cracked her knuckles.

"Well that solves our flume problem! But maybe we could stay at camp…"

Suddenly the stone in the center of Aja ring began to glow and project and image of Evangeline, but the connection was shoddy at best.

"Quigs are… territory is… Chimera…" and with that the image disappeared.

"Forget what I said earlier, looks like we're needed on Veelox," said Silena.

Silena hugged Clarisse and Beckendorf before facing the newly created flume along with Alder and Aja and shouting "Veelox!" The flume shifted to life like it had done it a million time before, and soon the Travelers were carried away.

"Oh damn, left my ring back at the top of the stairs!" said Clarisse.

"Well no rush, we're probably the only ones here," said Beckendorf.

As they drew closes they could hear what sounded like the music of the flumes dying down, and there were some kind of lights that were dying down as well. When the duo made it to the top of the stairs they found Silena's next journal from Veelox lying next to Clarisse's ring.

**Well what did you think? Next chapter we'll catch up with Silena and company on Veelox, until then my readers!**


	13. Chapter 13

Journal #4

Veelox

Okay so if this gets to you guys when I think you guys are probably wondering why this is typed out on paper rather than recorded on one of those devices like my last journal; don't worry we'll get around to that soon. So as soon the flume deposited us on Veelox I noticed something sticking out from the pocket of Alder's Camp Half-Blood blue jeans.

"Alder, did you bring some cans of Coke from Camp Half-Blood?" I asked.

"I know that it is wrong to mix the territories, but it is so delicious," said Alder.

"Well I do bring makeup in spite of the rules…"

"Uh guys…"

"Not now Aja I'm thinking; so what I guess it would be okay if you drank it as long as the natives didn't see you. I mean it's not like Halla's gonna crumble over one can of Coke or a little mascara…"

"Guys…"

"Aja just give me five…" but I stopped mid-sentence when I saw what she was pointing at.

At first I thought it was a cloud but then it started blinking like fireflies, it was kind of cute and even a little magical, that is until the "fireflies" started buzzing and one of them stung me. Soon more fireflies stung me as well as Alder and Aja, and then I realized that they were yellow firefly-thingies, and yellow animals at a flume could only mean one thing.

"Quigs!" shouted Aja as me made a run for it.

"But I thought there weren't any quigs on Veelox!" I said as the quigs charged after us.

"There weren't, but that means the territory's turned hot! Okay that's kind of bad because it means Saint Dane is defiantly after Veelox again, but it also means we've got a second chance to save Veelox! Ouch, ouch, stinging quigs really hurt!"

We were running at full speed but the quigs were still managing to keep pace, and we were getting covered in stings! I briefly considered turning into like a cheetah or something (hey if Saint Dane could turn into a raven I figure I could turn into animals as well) so I could out run the quigs, but that would leave the Alder and Aja to the quigs' mercy, and I had only just begun to figure out my transformation powers as it was. After a few more agonizing seconds we made it to the manhole cover, but now we had to slow down in order to climb out of the subway, and the heavy gear weighing us down wasn't helping our predicament.

"Okay we're being chased by bee-like quigs and bees like sugar, that's the whole reason they collect nectar. If only we had a sweet sugary liquids liquid to distract them," said Aja as she glanced over at Alder.

"What?"

"Alder!" said Aja and me at the same time while shooting him one of those "you know what you did" looks.

Reluctantly Alder gave the Coke cans a good shake, popped them open, and then hurled them at the quigs. The initial spry actually managed to knock out some of the quigs, but they were quickly replaced (gods just how many quigs were there?) and…the plan worked! The quigs were swarming the Coke, but it wouldn't be long before they drank ever last drop so we had to act fast; Aja made her way up first, followed by me, and then final Alder made his way out and we closed the manhole cover. Even after the cover was closed the quigs beat against the manhole cover relentlessly.

"Okay… let's avoid using the flumes as much as possible until we fix things here on Veelox," I said as we paused to catch our breath; Alder and Aja nodded in agreement.

We soon found the peddle car and made our way back to the Lifelight pyramid to see if Medusa had struck again; when we got there we found Gunny, Spader, and Kasha hanging out in front of the pyramid.

"Hey guys, anything new happen while we were gone?" asked Aja.

"You mean besides that fact that you've loosened up?" teased Spader.

Aja just smiled and rolled her eyes; I'm serious, she actually smiled at something Spader said!

"Well I see you found out about them quigs, or at least Aja and Alder did, you look flawless as usual Shorti," said Gunny.

I took out my compact from my purse and sure enough I didn't have a single blemish on my face or anywhere for that matter, thank you Aphrodite beauty powers! On the flip side of the coin Aja and Alder were covered in red spots from quig stings, but I was pretty sure I had some aloe in my magic suitcase.

"And you probably know about the… Chimera is it?" said Kasha.

"Soooooo any ideas on how to stop it?" I asked.

"Maybe if we lure the Chimera and Medusa together the wogglies will kill each other," suggested Spader.

"We haven't even found Medusa yet, just in case you didn't notice," remarked Kasha cynically.

"Let's take this one step at a time; no matter what we do we need to learn how to fight and that's why Alder's here," I said.

"And we should probably head back to the mansion; big day of training tomorrow," said Aja.

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful, we had a dinner of orange gloid and talked a little, but that was about it, well until I couldn't get to sleep and found Aja on the porch of the third floor.

"Hey, excited for tomorrow?" I asked.

"You could say that," replied Aja.

"It's so weird, it was only… gods was it a week ago, more than that? I don't know it's kind of hard to tell with the territories being on different times, but I think it's been about a week on Denduron, Veelox, Zadaa, Second Earth… and I should probably refer to Camp Half-Blood separate from Second Earth, I mean it is its own sub-territory right?"

"That seems logical, though if you ask me there ought to be a First Camp Half-Blood, Second Camp Half-Blood, and Third Camp Half-Blood considering there's three Earths and Camp Half-Blood is located within Second Earth."

"Maybe you should tell that to whoever makes the rules of Halla, or maybe you should make the rules!" I joked; we both had a good laugh over that one.

Aja looked over at me like she was weighing a tough decision, but she finally said, "Hey Silena…I have a confession to make. I've never really been off Veelox before; this was honestly the first time I've ever used the flumes, I mean sure Press told me all about Halla so I knew what I was getting into but seeing it all for real… wow!"

"I'd guessed you hadn't traveled before, you sure were amazed by that chaos outside the walls of the flume."

"And you aren't?"

I shrugged, "Eh, it gets a little old after a while, but it is a good way to collect your thoughts."

Aja shifted in her chair and soon a mischievous grin formed on her face, "I know you just found out you can transform, but just for the heck of it turn into me!"

Okay now I defiantly knew Aja had defrosted! And really what would it hurt! I closed my eyes and concentrated on forming a mental picture of Aja in my mind and soon I could feel my body rippling and changing; when I opened my eyes I realized I was looking thru yellow-tinted glasses and my cloths had turned into Aja's phader uniform.

"Oh hello, if you must know I'm Aja Killian, the greatest phader on Veelox ever! I don't usually take time to explain things to airheads like you but if you're going to talk to me I suppose you should know what we're talking about! See I do care!" I said in my best Aja impression (it helped that my voice now sounded exactly like Aja's voice).

"Okay I am not that snooty!" laughed Aja.

"Lair, lair, pants on fire!" I laughed back.

"Okay I guess that's true… marginally! Ooh do Kasha next!"

Since Kasha's a klee I wasn't sure if my power would work, but Saint Dane can transform into a raven so it stood to reason, and it worked perfectly!

"I'm Kasha from Eelong, and even though I find myself surrounded by talking gars I refuse to believe any of this Traveler stuff is real!"

"Oh you're just too good to be true!" laughed Aja.

"Hey can I ask you something?"

"You already are!"

"Okay, so the other day when you when we were driving to the Lifelight pyramid… what were you looking at?" I asked.

"Oh! I was… oh this is about Spader isn't it? Well if you must know I was only making sure Medusa wasn't sneaking up on us, so there I do care about him, but only as a member of the team!" snapped Aja.

For a moment we just stood there in silence just glaring at each other, then a smile slowly formed on Aja's face and we both burst out laughing.

"Gods my impression of you was spot on!" I laughed.

"Oh you're good… so listen I kind of wanted to ask you something to. I know your mom is a goddess so obviously she's no always around and all but… what it like having your dad around, and always knowing who your parents are?" asked Aja.

To say I was rocked by this would be an understatement, I mean sure Aja had been softening up but this was the first time I'd seen her show serious emotion, and on top of that I could see tears in her eyes.

"You never knew your parents did you?"

"I lived most of my life at an orphanage for gifted children, and it wasn't long before I became prime candidate for senior phader. Evangeline worked at the orphanage, we were always close, and eventually she took me in. Don't get me wrong she absolutely amazing and there's no one who could possibly be better than her but… sometimes I just wish I knew them, you know?"

The first thing I did in response to this was to turn back into my normal self, and then I gave Aja a hug, and she even hugged back.

"I can't tell you that you'll figure it out one day, but what I can tell you is that I think in some weird way the Travelers are like a family, like how me and my siblings from Aphrodite cabin are all a family because we're all related to Aphrodite. Maybe we're like a family because we're all Travelers and if nothing else we'll always have each other," I said.

"That's really deep," whispered Aja.

"You mean for an airheaded Aphrodite girl?" I smiled.

Aja smiled and rolled her eyes, "Well it's late, and we should probably get some rest."

I gave Aja one more hug (although this time she tried to pull away from me) and we were off to bed. The next morning before training began we enjoyed a breakfast of purple gloid.

"So where are we going to train exactly?" asked Kasha between bite of gloid.

"I was considering that last night. I do not think we will be able to train very well here on Veelox so I have decided that I will train you like I trained Pendragon. We are going to Zadaa," said Alder.

"Good thing he didn't say Camp Half-Blood, he'd be in a sugar-coma the whole time and we'd get no training done!" whispered Aja.

After we finished our gloid and Aja gave Evangeline a hug and promised to write we were off. I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about facing the quigs again, but just before we left we had discovered that hair spray plus lit matches makes for a very effective quig killer, or so we theorized. Well the time came to put out theory to the test; we opened the manhole cover and made our way down the ladder, so far so good, no quigs in sight.

"This probably isn't the best place to ask this, but where exactly has the Chimera been over the past day or so?" I asked.

"Oh Shorti you don't know what bad timing that was," said Gunny.

"You mean because the Chimera has been living in the subway system?"

"Well that and fact that the Chimera is right in front of us!"

I looked ahead and saw it, the weird mismatched creature with the head of a lion, head of a goat, and snake for a tail. It was the Chimera, and it was after us. The Chimera lunged at us so we scattered in as many directions as possible, on the one hand lugging the heavy weapons made moving quickly difficult but more than once the stopped the Chimera from giving me a nasty slash on the back.

Alder brandished one of the swords and charged at the monster, but he quickly retreated when the goat head spewed a burst of flame at him.

"Quickly Silena, how was this beast vanquished in the myths of the Greeks?" asked Alder.

"Okay so there was this guy… Bellerophon I think. So he was able to defeat the Chimera even though nobody else could because he rode a pegasus, the original Pegasus," I said.

"This would be a perfect adversary for you… but unfortunately we do not have a pegasus."

"Hobey! I think we've got other problems!" said Spader, but he didn't need to because the buzzing of the quigs was all too obvious.

"Everybody run for the flume!" I screamed.

As we made a mad dash down the tunnel the adrenaline must have kicked my brain in hyperdrive because in a swift fluid move that only last a few seconds (though it felt like time stood still) I struck one of the matches, mashed the button on a can of hair spray, and totally torched the swarm of quigs. Yes! It had worked, but we still had the Chimera to deal with.

"Did you have any destination in mind?" asked Aja as we slowly backed into the flume and the Chimera snarled and pawed the ground angrily.

"I'm good with anywhere but here."

"Well then I vote for… First Earth!" shouted Gunny.

The walls of the flume creaked to life and melted to see-thru crystal at Gunny's command and I could hear the sweet jumble of music growing closer. As the gentle of the invisible energy began to pull us in I realize with horror the Chimera was getting pulled in as well!

"Flume stop! Flume deactivate! Flume put the Chimera down for the gods' sakes!" I shouted in desperation, not even thinking to us my charmspeaking.

"It's no good Shorti, looks like he's comin' along for the ride," said Gunny.

I tried to mentally prepare myself as best I could for the chaos the was sure to follow… except the Chimera was too busy being freaked out by the whole experience of flume travel; well that gave me time to sit back and enjoy the view, but I had my eye on the Chimera. Past the walls of the flume I could see the floating images of Halla, it seemed like every time I traveled thru the flumes the images got more and more chaotic; now I may not know a lot of the answers to this Traveler stuff but that couldn't be good, right? The jumble of musical notes grew more intense to announce that our trip thru the flume was coming to an end and the flume deposited us in a cavern that looked like the flume entrance on Second Earth, but we were on First Earth, nearly seventy years in the past.

The Chimera had been disoriented by the flume ride and it staggered in the direction of the door in a daze. As the beast wandered onto the subway tracks it jumped in surprise and then turned to face us and snarled; it occurred to me that the Chimera must have stepped on the third rail, which I'm pretty sure has a realllllly powerful shock, so the Chimera must have been realllllly tough. The Chimera geared up the strike and us and I was ready the run back into the flume and shout out the name of another territory, until a subway train smacked into the Chimera!

The train continued on its path completely unaffected by the whole ramming into the Chimera thing, and for that matter gold dust was flowing behind the train as it zipped by; when the train was gone we tentatively looked out to find that the Chimera was gone, no it had been killed by the impact of the train and turned to gold dust like monsters do.

"Okay we go thru all this trouble to prepare to face the Chimera and then a train kills it, could that be more anti-climactic?" commented Aja.

"I do not know, but since the Chimera is taken care of perhaps we could take the day off to explore the territory," said Alder.

Don't get me wrong I've gotten to do a lot of sight-seeing in my short time of being a Traveler, except most of that was when I was either training for something or having to face monsters, this on the other hand was the first time I could actually just see a territory for pure pleasure. The first order of business as with arriving on any territory was to change into the local attire; admittedly it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, the sleek sequin-studded dress and cute pair of heels I picked out kind of made me look like one of those starlet from the Golden Age of Hollywood, hmm maybe that could be my cover story. Aja's dress looked a little more serious and business-like, kind of reflexive of her personality; Gunny was dressed like a bell-captain from a fancy hotel (Which technically he was) and Spader and Alder were dressed like bellboys.

Gunny looked over at Kasha and held out a collar and a leash, "Now Kasha things work differently here on First Earth, don't take it personally."

"It's okay Gunny, I understand," said Kasha as she slipped the collar around Gunny's hands.

"No, no, you have to put this around your neck."

"What! I'm not a slave! You can't do this to me, I…"

"Kasha just calm down and listen; here on First Earth there are no klees, the closest things we have are called cats and… well you look like the wild kind of cat."

"And these cats, they don't have the same rights as gars… well you call them humans here don't you?"

"I'm afraid that on the Earth territories cats are nothing more than animals, and I'm hoping that that Mist stuff Silena's been tellin' us about will help disguise you further. Now I'm real sorry we have to do this but this is just how it has to be," said Gunny with his soothing voice.

Reluctantly Kasha slipped the collar around her neck and handed the leash to Gunny, and with that we made our way out of the flume. We moved quickly along the subway tracks as that we wouldn't windup like the Chimera, and we also took care to avoid the third rail, because that can really ruin your day. When made it to the subway platform and got on via some service stairs; I could defiantly tell it was 1937 and not just because of the date on the newspapers, everywhere I looked all the women wore dress and all the men wore suits and those Indiana Jones hats, no one in casual cloths (well what we would consider casual cloths) and all very professional. Walking out of the subway and onto the city streets was stepping into an old movie; New York's on of the oldest cities in America so many of the buildings were the same as they are in our New York but there were subtle differences.

The first thing I noticed was the smell, kind of hard not to notice the overpowering stench of gasoline lingering in the air. After my nose adjusted to the smell I noticed a billboard advertising soap made out of olive oil (it must have been Greek, or Italian maybe?), I also noticed all the old fashion cars in the streets… well actually they were modern by First Earth standards. As I picked out all the differences between Second Earth and First Earth Gunny hailed a couple of cabs; Gunny, Kasha, and Alder got into one cab and Aja, Spader, and I got in the other.

"Where to?" asked the cabby.

"The Manhattan Tower Hotel," instructed Spader.

The cabby whistled, "Puttin' on The Ritz! Well you got a starlet in your entourage, figures you'd be a high roller."

As we drove down the streets of Manhattan I noticed the Empire State Building towering over all the other buildings and I knew on the 600th floor was Mt. Olympus, the home of the gods. I wondered what it would be like if I met my mom or any of the gods on First Earth, would none of them recognize me because I hadn't been born yet, or did the gods not perceive time the way mortals and demigods do so it wouldn't matter? It occurred to me that since this was technically Earth (albeit seventy years in the past) that meant Camp Half-Blood was still on Long Island, so was this before or after Camp Half-Blood had become a sub-territory?

In any event I did have much time to contemplate these questions because soon we pulled up to the Manhattan Tower Hotel and not long after that Gunny opened the cab door gallantly.

"Ms. Beauregard, Mr. Spader, Ms. Killian," said Gunny as he bowed and winked at us.

Gunny paid the cabby, who seemed strangely familiar for some reason, while the rest of us (minus Kasha because Gunny had her leash) made our way into the hotel lobby. The sight of the lobby took my breath away; on the ceiling was a huge crystal chandelier, the floors were covered in exotic oriental rugs; the whole interior design was exquisite and elegant in a 1930's kind of way.

"Ah, home sweet home," sighed Gunny happily.

"Gunny you must have been joking about being a common worker, you're really a rich prince aren't you?" said Kasha in awe.

"What me? Nope Kasha I'm afraid not, and don't go tellin Mr. Caplesmith this but as much as I love the Manhattan Tower Hotel if I was a rich prince I just might have to move in at the Plaza Hotel," chuckled Gunny.

"Gunny don't say such things! It's practically blasphemy!" said a voice from behind us.

We turned around to see a bellhop who looked about nineteen who was about five foot three, had slicked back black hair, and whose general features made me wonder if he might be a son of Hermes.

"Everybody meet Douglas Curtis, or as I like to call him my acolyte Dodger," said Gunny.

Dodger whistled when he saw Aja and me, "Say Gunny who's the skirts?"

"Skirts! That's the sexist standard you people on First Earth have reduced women to?" snarled Aja, looking ready to shoot fire out of her nose.

"Easy sister! Look I'm not sure how it works wherever you come from…"

"For your information I'm from Veelox!"

"Okay then in that case I'm not sure how it works on Veelox, but if what Gunny tells me is true in a few years there gonna be somethin' called the feminist movement that's gonna give more rights and independence to gals all across America. Anything else I can do for ya doll?" said Dodger as her stuck his tongue out at Aja.

"Now, now, let's not be fighting'. Now let's get to my apartment, we've got business to take care of," said Gunny.

We walked past the hotel kitchen and the laundry room until we made our way to a room at the far end of the hall. Gunny had earned the respect of all the hotel staff and so had a little apartment in the hotel; it wasn't much, just a living room with a sofa and some easy chairs next to a radio (because apparently television hadn't been invented yet), the living room lead into a small kitchen, there was a single bedroom, and a bathroom.

"It's cozy," said Kasha as she admired Gunny's painting of a group of African-American Civil War soldiers charging into battle.

"Well it's not much, but it's all I need. And now for something we need," said Gunny as he pulled out a tin cookie jar that looked like a log cabin from his stove.

"So why exactly do we need stale cookies?" I asked.

"Oh but these cookies never goes stale, and they're always sweet," said Gunny as he pulled out several rolls of money out of the cookie jar.

"I do not know what cookies are, but they do not look very appetizing," said Alder.

"It's not cookies Alder it's money. I always keep an emergency stash just for occasions like this, and normally it's for things like food and cloths, but I think we all earned a little fun time."

"Ooh let's go see a Marx Brothers movie!" suggested Spader with enough enthusiasm to give a heart attack to a water buffalo.

For a moment I could have sworn that I'd seen something move like a mysterious shadow or something, but when I looked there was nothing… weird. Well it was soon out of my mind, and I was off for a day of First Earth fun.

**So what did you think? Leave a comment telling me your thoughts! =)**


	14. Chapter 14

Journal #4, continued

First Earth

"Hey what about me! Why can't I go to this movie thing?" objected Kasha.

"Because they don't let cats in the movies, besides it's best you not be out in the open when you can avoid it. Now don't worry you be worrying; you, me, and Dodger will have us a gay old time right here at the hotel," said Gunny.

Kasha just slumped unhappily in defeat while I hail a couple of cabs, Alder and I got into the first leaving Aja and Spader with the second.

"Where to pretty girl?" asked the cabbie in a somewhat flirtatious tone.

"Where's a good place to see a movie?" I asked.

"Not from New York are ya?"

"Yes and no," I answered, which wasn't a total lie.

"Eh, I know a good theater down on 42nd street I can take ya," said the cabbie, and with that we were off.

"This territory is so hectic and chaotic, and it is only the past of your native territory! How can you survive is such a world?" exclaimed Alder as he gripped the door for dear life as the cab moved down the bustling streets.

"I guess when you grow up with it all you just get used to it," I admitted.

It was understandable that Alder was freaked, after all he was from a territory where they had barely figured our electricity, and if 1937 had him at a loss of familiarity I couldn't imagine what he'd think of the 21st century with computers and cellphones and all that. There was something familiar about the cabbie, I just couldn't put my finger on it until we made it to the theater.

"Hey, you're the cabbie I had when I was going to the Manhattan Tower Hotel!"

"So I am, crazy how the world works like that eh Silena?"

Wait a minute how did he know my name? I never told it to him, well he might have heard my first name from Gunny, but he sure as Hades never got my first name! As the cabbie drove off and Aja and Spader walked over to me I was still numb from shock.

"Hobey! Are you alright Silena? You look like you just seen a ghost!" said Spader.

"What? Oh! No I'm okay," I totally lied.

Spader eyed me suspiciously for a few more minutes before giving up and on the note we entered the theater. As soon as we got it the lobby Alder practically materialized at the refreshment stand and bought so many Cokes it gave me a cavity just looking at him (and Coke was only a nickel, no seriously, popcorn was a nickel as well!); I wasn't sure I was going to like the movie since it was one of those old black and white movies (well it was modern by First Earth standards but you know what I mean) but I guess comedy is comedy no matter what time you live in and in the end I was laughing as loud as everyone else.

I made some mental notes about all the time Spader and Aja laughed at the same jokes and that time Spader tried to brush his hand against Aja's.

"The Marx Brothers have done it again!" declared Spader as we came out of the theater.

"Admittedly I thought it dragged in the middle, but the beginning and ending were great, and the technology used to make it… wow!"

We all wheeled around in the direction of the voice to find… Kasha without her collar, standing on two legs, and casually munching a hotdog!

"How did you get here?" I asked in shock.

"Okay let me see if I can phrase this in simplest way possible. Well you see Silena when a mommy klee and a daddy klee love each other very much they decide to…"

"She doesn't mean that! She means how did you get to the movies without someone noticing?" said Aja.

"I hope on top of a cab, dug my claws in, and voila, her I am. I just strolled down the streets and nobody gave me a second glance, I can't say for sure but it's probably that Mist stuff."

"And Gunny does Gunny know about this?" asked Aja; as if in answer to her question we soon saw Gunny and Dodger frantically running down the sidewalk.

"Okay Dodger now she can't have gotten far, at least if she did there'd be all kinds of commotion," said Gunny.

"You know I'm startin' to think Silena might have been onto something about that Mist stuff," said Dodger.

"What makes you say that?"

"Nothin' much, except that Kasha and that other Travelers are standing over there!"

"Kasha you just want to give me a heart attack don't you?" smiled Gunny as he and Dodger walked over to us.

We quickly filled the two in on all the things (admittedly not that many) that had occurred since we left the hotel and our possible speculation as to their cause.

"Well then you can take that collar off Kasha, because it looks like the Mist is watching out for you," said Gunny.

"Oh Gunny you don't know… what a minute, one, two, three, four… where'd Alder go?" said Kasha.

As soon as I saw him I knew I only had seconds to act, because Alder was about to hop into a cab and there'd be no telling where he'd end up! Running as fast as my heels would permit I rushed over to Alder, but just before I got to him a burlap sack was thrown over my head! I kicked and screamed and tried everything I could to get free, but it was no good; I felt the strong hands of whoever had me toss me into the back of a car and soon I could feel the car speeding away.

What I hated sooooo much about having that sack over my head is that I couldn't tell how much time had passed; I wanted to asked whoever had taken me where he was taking me and who he was, but I had no clue who had kidnapped me so I wasn't sure how they'd react. After what felt like an eternity the car stopped and I was dragged out and placed in a chair; when the sack was pulled off my head I had to squint to adjust to the light, when my eyes had adjusted I realized I was in some kind of meat packing warehouse, and it was near the docks because I could hear the sloshing of water, but what really got my attention was that I was surrounded by Cyclopes and Laestrygonian Giants that were wearing pin-stripe suits!

"Alright pipsqueak listen up, you better count yourself lucky Mr. Castellan wants you alive, or I'd have had you for lunch by now!" snarled one of the Laestrygonians.

"I don't know Skullcrusher, she looks too small for that, more like a pre-dinner snack if you ask me!" jeered one of the Cyclopes.

"We can stand around and twiddle our thumbs fantasizing about eating this demigod brat, or we can get back to work before Mr. Castellon fires us!" snapped Skullcrusher.

"Take it easy man, I was only making conversation!"

"Well one more slip up and we're fired, you got that! And trust me you don't want to know what happens when Mr. Castellon fires chumps like us."

"Um, excuse me, but when you say Mr. Castellon, you wouldn't happen to mean Luke Castellon by chance would you?" I asked.

Skullcrusher smiled evilly at this, "Oh you must think you're pretty smart huh? Well I'm not fallin' for it! Whatever you're planning…" but before he could finish a taxi burst thru the door of the warehouse and slammed in Skullcrusher at top speed, causing the other Cyclopes and Laestrygonians to scatter out of the way.

In that instant I had two more revelations: 1) I wasn't tied to the chair and, 2) the driver of the taxi was the same driver I'd had all those other times I'd used a taxi on First Earth!

"Okay are you like a stalker or something?" I asked.

"First of all no, and second not the best time to be discussing this! Hop in quick!" said the taxi driver.

Okay so my choice was between angry monsters who might (and potential would) eat me, or a taxi driver who might be a stalker; not the best options, but given the situations I went with the taxi. When I got into the taxi I got my first good look at the driver; he looked to be around my age and had storm cloud-gray eyes and honey-blonde hair, in fact he kind of looked like what I always envisioned Annabeth would look like if she was a boy.

"Pericles Chase, son of Athena," he said as he shook my hand before flooring the gas.

"Oh like that guy who built that temple to Athena in… uh…"

"I believe you mean the Parthenon, which was constructed in Athens and completed around 432 BC, and yes I was named after that other famous son of Athena," said Pericles in such an annoyingly matter-of-fact tone that I wondered if he was a distant ancestor of Annabeth, I mean they share the same last name.

"Oh gods I must have been gone for hours, everyone must be worried sick about me!" I exclaimed.

"Not to worry, after I drive us around a little to shake those goons off our tail I'll swing back by the Manhattan Tower Hotel and drop ya off."

"So you knew I was a demigod from the start?"

"Takes one to know one," said Pericles.

"So if you're a demigod too then shouldn't you be at Camp Half-Blood?" I asked.

"Usually I am, but the Depression's really starin' to hit home, Chiron let me take a few weeks off to earn some extra cash so my old man can make ends meet."

If I hadn't been so freaked out about all the questions that were zipping around in my head I probably would have paid more attention to Pericles' finger and the sliver band around it. Presently Pericles pulled (gods that's a tongue twister!) up to the curb in front of the Manhattan Tower Hotel and walked me inside, no sooner had we set foot in the hotel than the desk clerk Bert waved us over.

"Ms. Beauregard you have been requested to the penthouse by invitation of Mr. Castellon."

"So you up for being my plus one?" I asked Pericles.

Pericles smiled triumphantly, "Let's go find out who Mr. Castellon really is."

The whole elevator ride up I felt like a swirling storm of emotions was brewing inside me; on the one hand I had always been close to Luke and I wanted to see him again, but at the same time he was a backstabber who had betrayed all of us at Camp Half-Blood. It didn't exactly help my farad nerves that the elevator driver wasn't the best with the break (yeah it was one of those old elevators with a hand-operated break). When we made it to the penthouse we were greeted by two Scythian Dracaenae who were guarding the entrance to the penthouse.

"Mr. Castellon ask for you alone girl!" hissed one of the Dracaenae.

"But you can always bring a plus one!" I charmspoke.

"Oh my mistake! Right this way Ms. Beauregard plus one," said the Dracaenae as she opened the door.

I did my best to put on a brave face and prepare for whatever awaited Pericles and me, and what awaited us was…a huge, long, lavishly furnished dining table with everyone sitting around it; at the very end of the table in pinstripe suit was Luke Castellon!

"Silena! You're just in time to join us for a delightful dinner!" said Luke as he smiled warmly at me.

I know it was stupid of me, but I just took a seat next to Luke and took a bite of the cheeseburger on my plate.

"Wow this is really good!" I said between bites.

"Hey I only buy the best for the best!" said Luke as he shot me a dazzling smile.

"Sooooo… what brings you to First Earth?"

The expression on Luke's face turned serious, "Getting right to the heart of the matter eh? Well as you've probably figured out by now I know about Travelers and Halla and blah, blah, blah, but let's look at the bigger picture shall we? Silena I've never wanted to hurt the camp or anyone in it, especially not you, and everything I've done was for the greater good of the camp…"

"Greater good of the camp? Hello, you work for Kronos, aka the evil titan bent on destroying the western world and then the rest of the world after that!"

"Please just give me a chance to explain; yes Kronos wishes to tear down the West, but only so a new and even more glorious West can rise and civilization will be reborn pure of the corruption of the Olympians."

Suddenly I lost my appetite, because even with the endless possibilities of Halla stretched out before him Luke was still just as twisted and blinded by Kronos evil as he always had.

"Luke you can't be serious!"

"Look at the big picture Silena, the flawed nature of the gods is permeating throughout Halla, it's time we stop pretending the people of Halla can guide themselves and step in to put them on the path…"

"The path of what? Death? Destruction? Evil? All of the above perhaps?" I interjected.

Luke rubbed his eyes in exasperation and sighed, "Silena you just need to clear your head is all, why don't we go for a little ride, my treat. You can bring your friend Pericles along."

"And what are we, rotten sniggers?" shouted Spader from the other end of the table (he and the other Travelers clearly had no clue what Luke and I were talking about).

"Actually I've got a… friend of mine that has just been dying to meet you Travelers. I've rented out the entire hotel ballroom so you guys can have a little get together with her, well join you after our drive," said Luke.

Okay, okay, I know what you guys are gonna say; look admittedly I should have questioned him more, I shouldn't have trusted him so easily, but that's the thing about Luke. I can't say what it is but there's just something that makes me melt like butter around him, and soon my willpower broke down and I accepted his offer and everyone was cool with that. Luke had said he wanted to be the driver of our car, which I was half expecting to be like a Mercedes or something flashy like that, but this was 1937 so instead there was a taxi waiting for us.

"Its got a nice working class charm to it," said Pericles.

"Figured you'd like it… oh and Silena there's something I've been meaning to give to you for a while," said Luke.

"Oh really, what…" but before I could finish Luke grabbed me by the forearms and kissed me on the lips!

Charlie, you know how much I love you don't you? And it's not that I want to hurt you or make you feel bad, but in that instant that Luke kissed me and held me close I had that melting like butter feeling that Luke is oh so good at producing (just keep reading, you'll see why it totally didn't mean anything soon).

"Did I ever tell you about what beautiful eyes you have?" asked Luke as he opened the door for me.

"Oh you just might have!" I giggled; Pericles just rolled he eyes and looked like he wanted to puke.

We hadn't been driving for all that long before I noticed something wasn't right, like the fact that even though Luke clamed we were going for a ride to the Bronx we were moving in the wrong direction!

"Um Luke, the Bronx is that way," I said.

"Oh is it? I didn't notice," said Luke in a nonchalant tone.

After drive in the wrong direction for a little longer we reached the South Seaport at the end of Manhattan, and Luke started to drive on the wharf and flooring the accelerator!

"Hey man what's the big idea?" exclaimed Pericles.

Luke turned to us and smiled, when his eyes turned light blue (and I mean totally light blue) and I knew things were getting seriously bad.

"I think I should take this opportunity to tell you that I've known you for longer than you think!"

I should have seen what happened next coming, but all the same it shocked me when Luke turned into Saint Dane and then back into himself, all the while retaining those light blue eyes and evil smile.

"You… Luke…you're… not real!" I stammered in shock.

"Oh he's real alright, he just wasn't who you thought he was!" said Luke, or should I say Saint Dane.

"Wait if you're really… oh my gods, I made out with Saint Dane!" I screamed in horror.

I was still numb from the shock of all of this when the taxi zoomed off the wharf and into the East River, and soon we started sinking and taking on water.

"Well I'd love to stay and chat but I have business to attend to on Veelox, ta!" said Saint Dane, and with that he turned into smoke and slipped out the crack in the window.

I know that being a demigod can suck whenever monsters try to eat and/or kill you, but honestly other than that it's pretty fun, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. And you both know how much I LOVE being and Aphrodite girl, but when the taxi started sinking and filling with water I kind of wished I was a Poseidon girl.

"The doors won't open! Why won't the doors open?" I screamed in terror.

Pericles on the other hand was completely calm as he fished out a ball-point pen from his pocket, "You know what they Silena, the pen is mightier than the sword!"

Pericles uncapped his pen and instantly it turned into a glowing Celestial Bronze sword that sliced through the roof of the taxi like it was made of tissue paper! Fortunately the taxi hadn't sunk all that deep and we easily made our way to the surface and swam to shore, unfortunately we were soaking wet and none of the other taxis would give us a ride because of that (it was just as well, because we weren't really up for another taxi ride) so we had to walk all the way back to the Manhattan Tower Hotel.

"So is your sword named Anaklusmos by chance?" I asked in an effort to pass time.

"Yeah, it means…"

"Riptide in ancient Greek, I know."

"Okay so tell me how you know then," said Pericles.

"I kind of know who's gonna own your sword seventy years from now."

"Well I'm honored someone's still getting use out of it in the future… as long as it doesn't belong to some seaweed-brained Poseidon kid! Ooh I just can't stand them… you know, because of Poseidon's contest with my mom Athena for Athens and all."

"Then you probably don't want to know who it is," I said, and for a while we just walked in silence.

Soon enough we came to the hotel and made our way to the ballroom. Is it possible to get sick of always preparing for the worst, because I sure was! When we made it into the ball room we found… everyone casually sitting around a table munching on some chocolate from a silver dish that was in the center of the table.

"Chocolate! Ooh give me some!" I said as I rushed over, because I LOVE chocolate.

"What that's how you great us? No "Hey guys! How'd you do fighting Medusa?" or perhaps "Oh my gods, how did you guys survive against Luke's goons?" or anything like that?" asked Kasha.

"Hey I'll have you know my mom got interested in my dad because he owns a chocolate shop down on 5th avenue, or at least he will in the future, time traveling's so confusing" I said thru a mouthful of bonbons infused with dulce de leche.

"The important thing is Medusa won't be a problem for us no more," said Gunny as he held up the severed head of Medusa.

After my sugar rush wore-off I looked around the room and saw several statues of Cyclopes, Laestrygonians, and Dracaenae all seeming to be frozen in mid-battle… no they weren't statues, they were the real things turned to stone by Medusa's gaze.

"Wow, it must have been some battle."

"Hobey Ho it was! But what was really surprising was Aja! I mean I got into some real tum-tiggers, and then Aja jumps in like she's always been fighting monsters just slashing them one after another until there was so much gold dust I could hardly see me hand in front of me face!" said Spader.

"Okay you cannot be talking about the same Aja Killian!"

"Hey I've got other talents besides working with computers you know!" said Aja.

"Really? And you learned sword fighting how exactly?" I countered.

"I don't have time for this! Look Medusa's out of the way, now can we please get back to Veelox?"

"She's got a point. Tell ya what; we'll spend that night here at the Manhattan Tower Hotel so we can work on out journals and get some rest, then first thing tomorrow morning we'll leave for Veelox," said Gunny.

Pericles decided that his work was done and that he'd earned enough money from the taxi business to take some time off at Camp Half-Blood, but before he left there was one question that had been nagging me since I'd met Pericles.

"Hey Pericles, how do you know about Halla and Travelers and all that?" I asked.

Pericles smiled slyly as he got in his cab, "Kind of hard not to when you're the Traveler from First Camp Half-Blood."

"You're a Traveler?"

"Sure am, just like you're the Traveler from Second Camp Half-Blood and Andromeda Jackson's the Traveler from Third Camp Half-Blood."

"Um… you interested in traveling with us?" I asked.

"Tempting, but I can tell you're in good hand with these guys, besides it'll be good to see the camp again, but maybe one day we'll met again huh?"

I'm going to end the journal here guys. Aja says it's important that I get all this down because once we get to Veelox there's no telling when I've be able to write (or record, you know since it is Veelox) my next journal. Guys I realllllly don't mean to sound paranoid, but if Luke was really Saint Dane this whole time that means he's been planning to push the turning point of Second Camp Half-Blood the wrong way for years.

The whole concept is so mind-blowing I'm having trouble believing it myself, but if it's true then we truly can't trust anyone no matter how long we've known them. Okay this is probably freaking you out, but you know how much I love you guys and want you to be safe, so just be careful.

Will write as soon as I can, Silena.

**End of Journal #4**

**Okay I know what you're thinking, and the answer is Pericles is a distant ancestor of Annabeth, not a direct ancestor. Now that we have that straightened out let's see how things are going at Second Camp Half-Blood, until next time my readers!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey guys! So this chapter's probably going to be a little short because I needed to have something to frame the events of the next few chapters, so let get on with it!**

Second Camp Half-Blood

Beckendorf and Clarisse finished Silena's latest journal feeling like they'd been punched in the stomach. Was it possible that Luke had really been Saint Dane all along, and who was to say that Saint Dane couldn't be anyone they knew. Even though they were just acolytes the whole experience was so surreal that it was hard to believe it was all real.

"So… you want to go see the flume?" asked Beckendorf after a pause.

"You mean so we can know this is actually happening and we aren't just crazy?" smiled Clarisse.

As they walked down the stairs towards the flume the two realize how close they'd grown; before pretty much all they had in common was Silena, but thanks to the Travelers and having to be acolytes together they had earned a deeper appreciation for one another.

"Well there you go we aren't crazy!" laughed Clarisse as they stared into the vast expanse of the flume.

"Gods wouldn't it be something if we could travel, facing the flume and calling out the name of a territory like… Veelox!" said Beckendorf.

Beckendorf hadn't expected anything to happen when he shouted into the flume so it was a great surprise when the flume sprang to life, the walls turning to see-thru crystal and the sweet musical notes began. Clarisse grabbed Beckendorf, ready the heels of her feet into the dirt to avoid them getting sucked into the flume, when she realized the flume wasn't pulling them in but sending something thru; the light and music stayed even after the Traveler was deposited, but when the light faded there was no mistaking the demon Silena had written so many times about.

"Saint Dane!" said Clarisse and Beckendorf in unison.

"My reputation precedes me! But really I thought you would have called me Luke!" laughed Saint Dane evilly.

"So you really were Luke!" exclaimed Clarisse.

"No I was really SpongeBob SquarePants! Of course I was always Luke you fool!"

"So why are you telling us this?" asked Beckendorf.

"Because even if you know who would believe you? Oh you could try and tell the other campers but then you'd have to explain about Halla and the Travelers, and you wouldn't want that would you?" taunted Saint Dane.

"So why are you here; chose your answer carefully!" said Clarisse as she cracked her knuckles.

"To drop of a little present for Silena, she'll be arriving soon. Now I really must be going, still much to do on… Ibara!" said Saint Dane, and with that the flume activated again and carried him away.

True to Saint Dane's word after he had left the flume activated again and deposited Silena along with Gunny, Kasha, Spader, and Aja, but something was wrong. Spader was carrying Aja in his arms, she was ghostly pale and wavering in and out of consciousness, worst of all was the dark red stain on her phader uniform that was expanding rapidly.

"Oh my gods, what happened!" exclaimed Beckendorf.

"She was shot three times! She needs help!" said Silena, the look of fear wild in her eyes.

The group quickly rushed upstairs and Chiron saw to it that Aja immediately got a room in the infirmary and the best healers from Apollo cabin.

"Well, is she gonna live?" asked Spader.

"We don't know, the bleeding is pretty bad and she's lost so much blood as it is, we may be too late," said Lee Fletcher.

"Chiron she needs ambrosia and nectar!" said Silena.

"But Silena's she's not a demigod and we don't know what it'll do to Travelers…"

"No, no, no, she is a demigod! Please, if we don't give it to her she'll die," pleaded Silena.

Chiron looked into Silena's eyes and for that instant they shared that almost father-daughter bond that all of Silena's years at camp had forge, and after that Chiron nodded to Michael Yew to get the ambrosia and nectar. With one hand on Aja's back for support and with a glass of nectar in the other Michael poured some of the drink of the gods into Aja's mouth; everyone held their breath as Aja swallowed and the nectar took effect, finally Aja opened her eyes and sat up on her own.

"Hmm, nectar taste like tri-colored gloid, I like it!"

Everyone let out a big sigh of relief at that and Spader quickly rushed in to give Aja the biggest hug he possibly could.

"Don't do that ever again! I thought I'd lost you forever!" said Spader with tears of joy streaking down his face.

"Um Spader… everyone is watching," said Aja; Spader quickly pulled away from her and turned bright red, and it was then that Silena took the opportunity to hug Aja.

"Okay enough hugging, Silena you can stop now, I said stop, Silena!" said Aja as she tried her best to push Silena away.

"Spader's right, we did nearly lose you forever, and you better not do that again!" said Silena.

"Oh dear I think I'm dying of embarrassment!" laughed Aja.

"Okay she's better!" laughed Silena.

Lee, Michael, and Chiron saw to it that Aja received rations of ambrosia and nectar every hour, and Spader and Silena were by her side every step of the way. After taking a short rest (for it was rather late) Beckendorf and Clarisse poked their heads in the room.

"Hey, hope we aren't interrupting anything," said Beckendorf.

"Oh not at all, come on in," said Aja.

"It's Athena isn't it?" asked Beckendorf.

Aja blushed a little and got interested in the ice cubes in her glass of nectar, "Yeah… I guess it was kind of obvious that my mom's Athena huh?"

"So if you're a demigod why did you just tell me straight up? It would have saved us sooooo much pain and stuggles," said Silena

"I guess… I was afraid you'd steal my thunder like when Pendragon came to Veelox. I mean I thought I was the only demigod Traveler for so long, and then you came along and I wasn't so special anymore."

"So what? You're not the only demigods Traveler but there's so much more to you than just that; like the way you took out the Reality Bug was soooooo amazing!"

"Whoa back up a minute, you guys defeated the Reality Bug? Are we missing something here?" asked Clarisse.

"Oh! I'd almost forgotten!" said Silena as she fished another silver recording device out of her purse.

Silena pressed the play button and instantly a holographic image of her formed and her final journal of her adventure of Veelox began.

**Okay so it wasn't the longest chapter or my best work, but this my readers is called a framing devise, and it will set up events for the next chapters. So until next time =)**


	16. Chapter 16

Journal #5

Veelox

This is it, all my adventures on the other territories of Halla have been leading up to this, yet at the same time I can't help but wonder if there's more adventures in store for me, but I'm getting way ahead of myself. So I'll rewind to First Earth, since Luke (or rather Saint Dane) and his monster goons were now gone and the penthouse was still in their name we figured that would solve our lodging needs for the night, but even though they were gone we all took shifts keeping watch just in case. I'm happy to report that nothing happened during the night and the next morning we enjoyed a great 1930s breakfast in the hotel restaurant (which amounted to a whopping seventy-five cents per person).

"Better enjoy this, we'll probably be eating gloid for the conceivable future," said Aja.

"And how long is that?" I asked, shuddering at the thought of going back to gloid.

"Well I was thinking that when we get back to Veelox we could go searching for Dr. Zetlin and maybe he could… help us do that think you said about convincing people to quit Lifelight."

I squealed with joy so loudly it caused some of the other patrons to turn in our general direction, but I didn't care. I hugged Aja as tight as I could and she jumped in surprise (she's not really much of a casual hugger).

"Well if it's that important I guess we should get going," chuckled Gunny as he finished his coffee.

The look on Aja's face turned dead serious, "Gunny your words of wisdom have helped us all more times than you know, that being said going into Lifelight to find Dr. Zetlin is full of perils and danger, with the very real possibility that if you're killed in Lifelight you will die in real life as a result of the placebo effect. If you, or any of you for that matter, don't think you're up to it you will not be thought a coward or uncommitted."

"Perhaps there's something else I can do, if not jumping."

"Well now that you mention it you could help me phade the jump, since it will be a lot of work even for an experienced phader like me."

"Then it's settled, I'll help you phade," said Gunny.

"Aja, I would like very much to help… but I am from a primitive territory, and I do not understand these codes and programs that you so often speak of like they are common place," said Alder.

"Trust me Alder, we're defiantly gonna need knight like you in our jump," I said reassuringly.

After finishing breakfast we made our way to the flume, as we made our way to the secret entrance I grimaced at the thought of having to face the quigs again. When we made it to the mouth of the flume we found a weird green metal canister that looked like those things beekeepers use to smoke out bees.

Attached to the bee smoker thingy was a note that said the following: _Thought you could use an assist_ _–Pendragon._

"Care to do the honors Aja? We are saving your territory," said Gunny.

Aja beamed with excitement, "You mean how we're gonna save my home territory of… Veelox!"

At Aja's command the flume sprang to life, the gray stones melting into see-thru crystal, the sweet jumble of music beginning, and the invisible energy pulling us in. I tried to ignore the images beyond the walls of the flume as best I could, beside I had too much to think about as it was and I was not about to let the restfulness of the flume ride pass me by. You know that feeling when you've just settled into a deep restful sleep but then you're rudely awakened, well that exactly how I felt when the flume dropped us off on Veelox and the quigs immediately came after us.

I instinctually reached for my hairspray and a match, but then I remembered the bug spray Bobby had dropped-off at the flume on First Earth. I gave the canister a squeeze and gods, Pendragon wasn't messing around with that stuff! The whole cavern filled with a thick green mist, it was so thick I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face, for that matter I could barely breathe in the air thick with the scent of sweet tropical fruits, which wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't so overwhelming! Fortunately it wasn't long before the smoke cleared, and when it did the cavern floor was littered with dead quigs.

"Damn! I don't know if that was mixing the territories, but I'm not complaining!" said Kasha.

We changed back into our Veelox cloths (which were basically the cloths we had brought from our home territories) and made our way to the Lifelight pyramid. Once at the pyramid we fitted Alder with a green jumper suit and Aja lead us to the room where Dr. Zetlin's jump was taking place; Dr. Zetlin's jump room seemed to be in a place of honor in the center of the phader control center, there was a man jump tube in the center as well as four additional ones on the sides (two per side).

"Okay this is it, last chance to back out if any of you aren't up to it, because once you go in there's no getting out until Dr. Zetlin ends the jump," said Aja, but those of us who were jumping weren't about to back down, not after all we'd been thru.

Aja and Gunny hooked up the hose thingies and did their best to explain jumping to Alder, but being from a territory where electricity was still a fairly new concept it was probably best for Alder to learn by experiencing. After the final preparations were made our jump-tubes retreated into the wall and I closed my eyes; when I opened my eyes again I saw that Spader, Kasha, Alder, and I were all standing on the streets of Rubic City and it was raining, but all the buildings were in prime condition and the streets were full of people (albeit in green jumper suits). I pushed the button on the left of my silver bracelet and an image of Aja materialized.

"What sorcery is this!" marveled Alder.

"Well first of all it's science not magic, and second this is… an illusion that the machine makes from Dr. Zetlin's mind," explained Aja.

"So why would he imagine this, it seems a little depressing," I said.

"This is only the pre-show; the really interesting part is at that building down there, the Barbican."

The best way I can describe the Barbican is like a skyscraper leaning on its side on top of that arch in St. Louis (which is official my least favorite city not because it makes me think of Saint Dane); as soon as we got close enough the Barbican started rotating on top of the arch before sliding down and landing perfectly upright on the square of dirt.

"What the Hades was that?"

"How Dr. Zetlin keeps out unwanted visitors; now the entrance is thru that door over there. Brace yourselves," said Aja.

We walked thru the opening in the Barbican to find… a tropical jungle! No seriously, there was an entire jungle inside the Barbican, rich dirt; lush plants, steamy air, and the ceiling even looked like the night sky.

"See those staircases along the walls? Well if you're going to get to the next level you'll need to get to the top without getting killed."

"Um… what exactly would be killing us?" I asked nervously.

We had only taken a few steps into the Barbican when the door slammed shut and as if in response a vine stuck out and tried to trip me, and it succeeded. I yelped with surprise and fell flat on my face; when I brushed myself off I founded myself face-to-face with a giant Venus flytrap (wait, do plants even have faces?). The monster plant lunged at me, but Kasha quickly ripped it to shreds with her razor-sharp claws and teeth.

"Thanks Kasha," I said, panting in shock as the adrenaline rushed thru my system.

"Well Venus is what the Romans called Aphrodite, and since she's your mom it would have been a majorly ironic if I'd let it kill you," laughed Kasha.

"Um… how do you know what Venus flytraps are?"

"Something Pendragon mentioned. Now let's get going before more come."

"Now I can see why you would need me," said Alder as we made our way deeper into the jungle.

We moved quickly and soon we made our way to the stairs, but about midway up we ran into… you guessed it, another Venus flytrap on steroids! Alder cracked his knuckles and charged at the plant, prying its jaws apart with both hands.

"Hurry, I can only hold it off for so long!" said Alder as the Venus flytrap tried to shake him off.

Spader, Kasha, and I continued up the stairs until they ended in front of a floating glob of water, wait a minute water globs don't float in the air!

"Well what are you waiting for, swim thru it to the next level," said Aja.

Kasha puffed up and nervously shifted from foot to foot at this, "Yeah about that… I kind of… don't know how to swim."

"Kasha! You're telling me this now!"

"Well lots of klees don't know how to swim…"

"Look it's not that far all things considered, and there's zips waiting for you at the surface; if you don't believe me I'm sure fish-boy and verify for you," said Aja.

"Aw, you're using pet names Aja?" teased Spader; Aja rolled her eyes and looked annoyed at this.

Spader poked his head into the water and then pulled it back out, but his head was perfectly dry! Spader wiggled into the water bubble and then he was completely gone, and then after a few minutes he was back again.

"Hobey it feels good to be back in the water! It truly isn't that far to the surface, Kasha you grab onto me and kick and then we'll be on the zip in no time."

"Alder, we found a way to the next level!" I called.

With one final burst of strength Alder ripped the viscous plant's jaws in two and hurried over to us. After Spader and Kasha went thru and then Alder it was my turn, I wiggled into the water glob and swam for the surface, which took more time than Spader made it out to be, but even though my lungs were soon screaming for air I made it to the surface. After filling my lungs with air again I looked next to me to find a craft that kind of looked like a cross between a motorcycle and a jet ski, a zip I assumed. Spader and Kasha were on one of the zips (and Kasha was clinging to Spader for dear life) while Alder was treading water next to the other.

"Since you are from a more technologically advanced territory perhaps you should handle this," said Alder as we climbed onto out zip.

Well I had driven a jet ski that time daddy took me on vacation to the Caribbean so how hard could it be? I gripped the handle bars and the engine revved to life, although it was a little herky-jerky at first (Alder clung tightly to me all the while) but soon I got the hang of the controls and our zip was catching up with Spader and Kasha's zip.

"Okay guys you see those hoops? Well you'll need to fly the zips thru them and go for a few rounds around the track, after that you'll encounter a white portal, fly thru it," instructed Aja.

After messing around with the buttons for a few minutes I was able to find the flight mode button and soon the zips were sailing thru the air and the hoops.

"Soaring thru the air like a bird! Veelox is a word of wonders!" laughed Alder in delight.

"Oh this is nothing, you should see the flying machines we have on Second Earth," I said.

"Oh sweet Silena, you make me want to see your world even more!"

As soon as we had made the rounds like Aja had instructed we flew into the white portal, at first I saw nothing but pure white stretching endlessly in all directions, but when my eyes adjusted I realized two things; 1) we were in a snowy mountain range, and 2) I didn't know which button controlled the brakes!

"How do you stop this thing?" I screamed in terror as the zip careened violently towards a group of guys who were skiing on these weird skis that were like a cross between normal skis and snowshoes.

I frantically press every button I could find, but eventually I decided to just bail out and wait for the zip to crash. I grabbed Alder's hand and counted to three and we jumped… and slammed one of the weird ski guys.

"Hey what's the big idea, we're trying to play slickshot here you… ooh you're cute!" said the totally hot guy we'd slammed into.

"Welllllll I kind of have that effect on cute guys like you. Soooooo you wouldn't happen to know where we could find Dr. Zetlin would you?" I giggled flirtatiously.

"That's a no brainer, you're looking at him!"

As soon as the hot skier guy took off his helmet I yelp with surprise; he had gorgeous blue eyes, well styled blonde hair, his face was all in perfect proportions, and I wondered to myself what he'd look like with his shirt off. Dr. Zetlin, the creator of Lifelight, looked exactly like his portrait.

"Dr. Zetlin, we've found you!" said Aja.

"Aja Killian! How's my favorite little phader doing, and who's your cute friend?" asked Dr. Zetlin as he shot Aja a dazzling smile, though Aja was clearly ticked about being called little.

"Silena Beauregard, I'm not from this part of Veelox but Aja's told me a lot about you," I said, which technically was true.

Not long after that Spader and Kasha pulled up to us on their zip; Dr. Zetlin raised an eyebrow at Kasha but not as much as I would have expected him to.

"Sir there is a perfectly logic explanation for the cat…" began Aja, but Dr. Zetlin held up his hand.

"I've seen stranger things Aja, no need to explain."

Wow, talk about getting off the hook super-easy! Dr. Zetlin invited us to a part at his mansion and we gladly accepted. Dr. Zetlin's mansion looked like one of those mountain resorts of the rich and fabulous, and the inside was even more impressive; the inside of the mansion was furnished with what looked like the latest styles in Second Earth furniture (guess fashion's universal), there was music blaring true the loudspeakers, everywhere people were milling about and dancing to the beat; I could see all sorts of entertainment consuls, normal video games, air hockey, holographic 3-D video games, foosball, you name it Dr. Zetlin had it.

"Dr. Z! What up dude!" shouted a bunch of guys as they slapped five with Dr. Zetlin.

"Hobey! You are pop-u-lar!" said Spader.

"Well I thought it would be a nice little get together for me and 300 of my closest friends; now you all look liked you'd care to slip into something more comfortable, just press the adjust jump button and imagine anything you fancy."

We all did as Dr. Zetlin instructed and instantly our jumper-suits transformed into our regular cloths, and I'm pretty sure that was a violation of the rules Aja had explained to me.

"How did you…"

"I created Lifelight, I may have made it pretty special as it is but I saved all the best toys for myself," said Dr. Zetlin with a wink.

I know I should have stuck to the plan and all because we'd just found Dr. Zetlin, but still the music had a groove to it that I couldn't resist moving my feet to, and pretty soon I was caught up in the rhythm, but in my defense so was everyone else. Throughout all the songs (which were strangely familiar for some reason) Dr. Zetlin was constantly by my side, and unlike a look of boys he actually danced rather than just awkwardly shuffling his feet; after a few fast songs we finally got a slow one and it made my heart bet slow and fast at the same time when Dr. Zetlin held me close.

"Hey Silena, I know we just met and all but… I think you're the most beautiful girl in the world," whispered Dr. Zetlin.

"Oh Dr. Zetlin… I'm not really from Rubic City, but where I'm from there's a certain custom that fits this situation."

Okay before anything else happens let's get this out of the way; I know I can be a bit of a flirt… okay I'm a major flirt, it's part of being an Aphrodite girl okay! And Dr. Zetlin was oh-my-gods gorgeous, and I later found out that… well you'll hear about that later, but let's just say I defiantly should not have kissed Dr. Zetlin in hindsight. Okay so we've got all that out of the way and I can tell you how amazing it felt when I kissed Dr. Zetlin; as soon as his lips touched mine I melted like butter, it was just sooooo romantic.

"Oh… I think I like this custom of yours," said Dr. Zetlin.

As I stood there smiling happily I glanced to the right and saw Aja's image looking like she'd wanted to puke.

"You kissed him! Of all the people to kiss, you pick him!" exclaimed Aja.

"Private moment!" I exclaimed.

"Okay Silena there's something you should know about Dr. Zetlin…"

"Wait a minute I see what you're doing here! You like Dr. Zetlin!"

"Only as a friend and college, now it's really important that you know…"

"That you secretly been harboring feelings for Dr. Zetlin and you're only now telling me? Sweetie it's blindingly obvious."

"For the last time I do not love Dr. Zetlin! And neither would you if you knew that he…"

"Relax Aja, I was just flirting. I've got a… sort-of boyfriend, back at Second Camp Half-Blood."

"Silena it's kind of important that you know that in real life Dr. Zetlin is really…"

"If you want some time alone with Dr. Zetlin I can leave," I offered.

"Oh I give up, figure it out yourself when the jump ends! Now make yourself useful and find Spader, Alder, and Kasha, we all need to have a little chat with Dr. Zetlin about your plan!" shouted Aja in exasperation.

Gods what was with Aja? I mean I was only trying to help her and she had completely flipped out at me! Well like I said I'd find out why eventu… oh gods let's not go there right now! We found Alder Kasha playing one of the hologram games, in the game they were battling these velociraptor, dinosaur, thingies like the tang Kasha had described.

"Kasha, Alder, we're convincing Dr. Zetlin of the plan!" commanded Aja.

"What's eating her?" asked Kasha.

"No clue," I said.

We found Spader happily flirting with a group of girls, a lot of girls.

"Hobey Ho mates! Guess what, I'm getting married! Right, now which one of you did I propose to?" said Spader as all the girls raised their hands.

"Spader! Talking! With! Dr. Zetlin! Now!" snarled Aja.

"Okay then, we'll sort all this out when I get back," said Spader.

We decided to talk on the rooftop terrace because of the serine and tranquil landscaping (perfect for calming down phaders named Aja Killian) and because of the fabulous sunset in the sky.

"Now then, calmly tell me what you need to," said Dr. Zetlin.

"Well I'm really good a public speaking, like really, really good, and I'm super-good at persuading people to do things. So because of that I was thinking that if you could access the mast controls of Lifelight I might be able to convince some people to get out and maybe start like a support group for people addicted to Lifelight so it can be used more responsibly and people won't waste all there time in it," I said.

Dr. Zetlin gazed wistfully into the sunset, "Silena, you're a sweet girl, but let's face facts; we've failed, all of us, the allure of the lotus of Lifelight was too great for the people of Veelox to resist. That's why I retreated into Lifelight, so that I wouldn't have to live in the real word with my failure constantly staring me in the face."

"Come on Dr. Zetlin, what have you got to lose? If you're right then Veelox is already doomed and things can't get worse than they already are, and if I'm right we might have a chance to save at least some of Veelox. Please, just for me?" I pleaded in my best charmspeaking voice.

Dr. Zetlin looked at me a smiled, "Well, well, you weren't kidding about those speaking skill. I suppose we haven't anything to lose, follow me."

Dr. Zetlin lead us to one of the computers in his mansion and accessed the Lifelight mainframe then he entered the master code for all of Lifelight, which was… wait for it… 0. A code so simple even the brightest phaders (that means you Aja) wouldn't have guess it in a million years. After Dr. Zetlin typed a few more commands some weird things began happening, like the text on the screen would delete itself as soon as it was typed, or it would rearrange itself in weird patterns.

"Computer, switch to vocal command mode," commanded Dr. Zetlin.

"Vocal command mode activated," responded the computer.

"Access program mass-communication."

"I'm sorry Dr. Zetlin, I'm afraid I can't let you do that," said the computer in a chillingly familiar voice.

"Computer is there an error?"

"Well I take slight offense to the word error," said Saint Dane as his image appeared on screen.

"Of course, it was all going too perfectly for you not to show up," said Aja as she narrowed her eyes.

"Why Aja I thought you'd be delighted to see me! After all you did want a second shot at me didn't you?"

"Your too late Saint Dane, we're just a few keystrokes away from saving Veelox and setting it back to the way it was meant to be!" I said defiantly.

"Oh dear, I'm too late! But wait, what did you do about the Reality Bug?" asked Saint Dane with a smirk on his face.

"That… is on our to-do list."

"Well then you better to-do something fast!" laughed Saint Dane.

I became aware of a strange sound, kind of like two pieces of metal scrapping against one another, and not long after that a section of wall burst open and a humongous black centipede (that was almost as tall as the ceiling and then some) burst in.

"What is that thing?" I screamed in terror.

"That, is the Reality Bug," said Aja soberly.

**Ooh this chapter ended on a real cliffy, but that's the way I keep my readers wanting more! And speaking of my readers you guys know how I like reviews =)**


	17. Chapter 17

Journal # 5, continued

Veelox

The Reality Bug lunged at us, but we quickly jumped out of the way, and even more critically Dr. Zetlin's computer wasn't damaged.

"Can you stop this thing?" coughed Dr. Zetlin because of the debris the Reality Bug had kicked up.

"If I had my weapons I might," said Alder.

"You're in my jump now; that means the master control of the alter-jump button is unlocked. If you can dream it, Lifelight can make it, no matter if it's unrealistic or not."

Alder tentatively pressed the button (cut him some slack, this was still new to him), and instantly a sword from Denduron appeared in his hand. Alder swung the blade at the Reality Bug and managed to land a few blows, and due to its size the Reality Bug was having trouble maneuvering around.

"No this simple won't due. Ah! Here's a solution," said Saint Dane.

Suddenly the walls of Dr. Zetlin's mansion began to dissolve and the Reality Bug began to get more mobile.

"He's writing new viruses fast than I can create new firewalls!" exclaimed Aja.

"Keep trying Aja, I'll try to isolate his source code!" said Dr. Zetlin as he typed furiously on his keyboard.

Suddenly the Reality Bug turned into a shapeless glob of black goo; after a few minutes of rippling around like it was trying to decide what shape to be it settled on the form of a huge bear with razor-sharp spikes coming out of its back, and saber fangs hanging out of its mouth.

"Alder… do you recognize that?" I whimpered.

"Yes, it is a quig from Denduron," replied Alder grimly.

The quig snarled at us and pawed the ground in preparation for a charge; I looked around desperately for an escape route, but the only option was down, and I was pretty sure if I jump from as high as we were I'd brake something and become and easy snack from the quig.

"Dr. Zetlin you said we could dream up anything at all and make it real right?" asked Spader.

"Yes dear boy! But whatever you dream of dream of fast, because that beast looks hungry!" said Dr. Zetlin, though why he'd called Spader boy when they were both the same age I had no clue, but I didn't really think about it at the time because I was sooooo paralyzed with fear.

Spader pressed the alter-jump button on his bracelet, gave us a salute, and jumped over the edge of what was left of the mansion! We all just stared in shock for a minute, first at the spot where Spader had been, then at the snarling quig, then at the ocean and the battleship…wait a minute, that hadn't been there before!

"Just jump, I'll take care of the natty-do!" called Spader.

"Have I mentioned that I don't know how to swim?" whimpered Kasha.

"It's okay, all you have to do is…" but I never got to hear the rest of what Dr. Zetlin said, because in that instant my ADHD got the better of me and I jumped off the platform.

I'd like to say that on the way down I had a big revelation about life, the universe, and everything; and that in that instant I came to terms with who I am as a Traveler. I'd like to say that, but if I did I'd be lying, because pretty much the only thing I thought on the way down was "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Welllllll actually that's not entirely true. I once heard that in times of crisis fear can be your greatest ally (did I hear it from you Clarisse, or was it Chiron?). Anyway I know that fear can also realllllly hurt you, like it would paralyze you and make you unable to think strait, but there's also those times it kicks you into survival mode and your mind moves at like lightspeed and let you see things you would have missed otherwise, and that what happened to me as I fell.

In a split-second I pressed the alter-jump button and concentrated on flying, and the next thing I knew I was! I know I should have been more cautious, but I was just so happy to be alive that I did a few loop-de-loops thru the air before circling around again and landing safely on the battleship next to everyone else.

"You know you could have teleported using the alter-jump button!" laughed Dr. Zetlin as he hugged me.

"Hate to break up the love fest, but we've got more pressing issues!" said Aja as she pointed to the snarling quig that was now leaping towards us.

Boom! The entire ship shuddered at the recoil from a powerful cannon blast that sent a mighty jet of water strait for the quig; as soon as the Reality Bug was slammed by blast of water it burst apart into inky-black globs the rained down on the deck of the ship.

"Told ya I'd get the natty-do," smiled Spader from behind the ship's controls.

"Sooooo how did I fly?" I asked.

"You might want to ask you ankles," said Aja.

I looked down and sure enough I had sprouted wings on my ankles! No seriously, there were like little bird-wings on my ankles, and when I noticed them they flapped excitedly and I hovered a few inches above the deck.

"It's like Perseus or Hermes, but they had winged-sandals… I think."

"Well that and Hermes had a winged hat that modern mortals mistake for a pit helmet, but it's pretty similar," said Aja.

"Um… how do you know about mortals from Second Earth?" I asked.

"Silena… we've got more pressing matters at the moment," said Kasha.

Across the deck the globs of the Reality Bug were starting to take shape, at first I couldn't quite tell what they were turning into, but soon it became all too apparent.

"Oh my gods, they're tangs!" I exclaimed.

Alder swished his sword thru the air a few times and Kasha bared her fangs, "I've got experience as a forager and Alder's a knight; we'll handle the tangs, you guys get Silena below deck."

"Why do when need to…" but before I could ask any more questions Dr. Zetlin scooped me up in his strong arms, and together with Spader and Aja's image, retreated below deck.

Once below we found a room and locked the door, after that Dr. Zetlin summoned back his computer and started typing commands into it furiously.

"We don't have much time, Dr. Zetlin and I have managed to contain the Reality Bug in this jump, but it's mutating fast and we can barely put up new firewalls in time. This is it, your time to shine, it's now or never Silena," said Aja.

Aja instructed me to face the computer screen and my image would be broadcast all the jumps on Veelox; usually I'd have been worried about my appearance at a time like that, but for the first time in my life I actually didn't care, I was totally focused on the task at hand.

"We go live in three, two, one. Cue sync!" said Dr. Zetlin.

"Hi people from Veelox! Oh gods I can't believe I just said that! Oh they all probably think I'm like an alien or something… no that's too harsh, they probably think I'm crazy or…"

"Silena! I thought you had this under control!" exclaimed Aja.

"You try having the fate of Veelox on your shoulders!"

"Well excuse me Atlas, but as a matter of fact I have! And more over…"

"Ladies… the sync is still running," said Dr. Zetlin.

"Oh! Right… sorry about that. Anywho, I'm Silena Beauregard, and I know what I said earlier, but I am in fact from Veelox and I always have been, because where else would I be from? So I'm here to talk to all of you about something you're all really familiar with: Lifelight," I said; Dr. Zetlin, Aja, and Spader gave me a thumbs up and I continued.

"Soooooo I know Lifelight can be really fabulous and a lot of fun, but it's gotten waaaaay out of hand! Like seriously, if you guys knew about how all the buildings are falling apart and how there's garbage in the streets, and how all the gloid is running out… oh yeah that's right, the gloid is running out! Think about that for a minute; if there's no gloid then you guys will starve to death, problem much? And if everyone's in Lifelight who's gonna run the electricity, because no electricity means no Lifelight; and if there's no one to repair the buildings what's stopping then from crashing down and killing you guys in your jump tubes? And how about…"

I paused for a minute to consider what I was going to say; I was going mention that there was a good chance that phader and vedders would abandon the jumpers in favorer of Lifelight, but I just couldn't bring myself to say it. I soon realized why, it was because that's the sort of thing Saint Dane would want me to say! Think about it, Saint Dane said the entire reason he does all the horrible things he does is because he thinks that all people are inherently selfish, and to prove this he pushes them to make horrible destructive decisions; no, I wouldn't say anything bad about the phader and vedders, especially (I'm looking at you Aja) because of how hard they worked even against the impossible odds they faced each and every day, so I took another rout.

"Okay bit of a pause, but I'm back! So like I was saying… Lifelight is like a mask you people wear because you're too scared to face the real world!" I blurted out.

I was so shocked by my own words that I yelped with surprise and covered my mouth; Dr. Zetlin, Aja, and Spader were clearly shocked as well, but they encouraged me to go on.

"And if you spend all your time in Lifelight you'll never experience the glory of the real world. I know Lifelight is perfect, but that's the problem, because how can you honestly say something in Lifelight is as great as in real life when you don't have to work for anything. I know, I know, the imperfection of reality can be a real pain, but they're worth it in the end; just look at Pericles, sure it was super-hard to build anything as grand as the Parthenon using the tools they had in ancient Greece, but even when everyone told him he couldn't he overcame the odds and did! And even when the whole world stood against him William Shakespeare proved them all wrong and became like the greatest play writer of all time! The point is at the end of the day no matter what you do you're still just people in tubes, but you can be so much more if only you chose real life over Lifelight, thank you."

"We are now off-air and you did an absolutely fantastic job Silena! I hung on your every word, I felt the passion dipping from your voice, and you made me want to stand up and take action! How do you do it?" asked Dr. Zetlin as he held me close.

"You could say I've got a charm for speaking!" I said as I winked at Spader and Aja and they winked back.

Suddenly there was a quick succession of four knocks on the door, and I thought I heard the sound on claws clanking against metal.

"Open the door quickly, here come the tangs!" called Alder from the other side of the door.

"Didn't you lock the doors from just before you go below deck?" asked Spader, more than a little confused.

"We did, and if these were average tangs they wouldn't have been able to open it, but unfortunately they're the Reality Bug," said Kasha.

Spader quickly unlocked the door and let Alder and Kasha in, and then with their help he closed the door, but not before a few hungry snouts managed to poke thru.

"We… are safe!" panted Spader.

"Hey just a thought, but if the Reality Bug can turn into that black goop couldn't it just seep thru the cracks in the door?" asked Kasha, and as if on cue the Reality Bug did just that.

"Dr. Zetlin, it's time! We have it isolated," said Aja.

"What do you mean it's time?" I asked.

"She means we've got the Reality Bug isolated to this jump, as soon as we're all out it's dead. See you in reality Silena," said Dr. Zetlin, he then gave me one last kiss before pushing the center button on his bracelet and disappearing.

"Last one there buys the sniggers!" said Spader, and with that he was gone.

"You guys aren't so bad… for gars," said Kasha with a wink, and then she was gone.

"So I push this button…"

"No the one next to it," I said as I moved Alder's huge hand to the correct button.

"I will see you soon then?" asked Alder.

"Sooner than you think," I said, and after I gave him a quick peck on the cheek Alder was gone.

"What's so funny?" I asked Aja, who was snickering at me.

"Oh nothing, nothing, I'm sure Dr. Zetlin will explain it to you!" giggled Aja.

I shot her a confused look before pressing the center button on my on bracelet, and the next thing I knew everything went black and I was back in the jump tube, in real life. As my jump tube pulled out from the wall I was greeted by all my Traveler friends as well as an ecstatic crowd of phaders and vedders.

"And she's alive! The triumphant heroine to all of Veelox," smiled Gunny warmly.

"Wait a minute, where's Dr. Zetlin?" I asked as I scanned the crowd.

"Here he comes now!" said one of the phaders with almost reverence.

I held my breath with anticipation as the center tube pulled out and… and that could not be Dr. Zetlin! Instead of the hunky totally hot sixteen year old guy I'd met in the jump the bed of the tube held as shriveled old man with wrinkled pale skin, almost no hair, and who looked to be at least a million years old.

"W-who are you?" I asked in bewilder meant.

"Silena it's me, Dr. Zetlin!" said the old man.

"Um… no offense, but you're kind of old to be Dr. Zetlin.

The old man let out a raspy laugh that soon turned into a cough, "Didn't I tell you I had the master controls, the ones that make the unrealistic real?"

Suddenly my mind went back to what Aja had said… well tried to say anyway.

"Aja…"

"I tried to tell you that he's seventy-nine years old in real life, but you just wouldn't listen," said Aja, trying her best to suppress the urge to burst out laughing.

The horrible reality of the situation finally sank in, "Then that means I… made out with an old man. Oh my gods! Gross! Gross! Gross!"

I screamed with horror at the top of my lungs and wiped my tongue as if that could somehow undo my horrible deed, but it was useless, and it didn't help that all the phaders and vedders were laughing either! Completely mortified I did the only thing I could, I found a closet, locked the door, and wished I could die of embarrassment.

"Come on now Silena, you can't be hiding in there forever," called Gunny form the other side of the door.

"Fine! Let's so who rots first, I'm game!"

"You know I have the access codes to all the doors in this place don't you?" said Aja as the door clicked open.

I tried to cringe back as best I could, but Gunny and Aja grabbed me and dragged me out of the closet to face the crowd.

"Silena, I think that someone has something he wants to say to you," said Aja as she shot a look a Dr. Zetlin.

Dr. Zetlin shuffled from one foot to the other and cleared his throat, "I suppose I… got a little carried away with my fantasy and… I'm very sorry about what I did to you Silena."

"And would anyone else like to add anything?" asked Aja as she glanced over at the phaders and vedders.

"We're sorry," said the phaders and vedders.

"Please don't kill me Aja!" shouted one of the phaders as he cowered in fear.

"Welllllll I guess I can forgive you guys, but don't ever repeat any of this because Aja will kill you if you do," I said.

"I'm glad you feel that way Silena, now how about another kiss for old time's sake?" said Dr. Zetlin.

"Ew! In your dreams pedo!"

Aja and Gunny showed us what had happened since we'd gotten back from Lifelight; I'm sorry to say that I didn't convince everyone one Veelox to get out of Lifelight, and many of them were still in Lifelight, but that was okay, because just as many people had gotten out of Lifelight, many of them for the first time in years.

"Oh my gods, we did it!"

"No Shorti, you did it," smiled Gunny as he put his hand on my shoulder.

"But if it weren't for you guys I would have be kill… I don't even know how many times."

"But it was your words and charmspeaking that brought them out, and for that you should be proud," said Aja as she gave me a hug (she's not the hugging type so I savored it while I could).

The next few days were absolute amazing; it was just soooooo fabulous to see the way life was breathed back into Rubic City, well all of Veelox for that matter. The garbage was cleared from the city streets, the builds were repaired, and there was talk of growing actually food to eat!

"Hard to believe this is the same Veelox I landed on a week ago," I mused as Aja and I casually strolled the revitalized streets of Rubic City on a bright and sunny day.

Aja was dressed in a casual sweatshirt and jeans, and everywhere we went people waved at us and shouted happy greetings, I kind of felt like a movie star.

"Oh this isn't the same Veelox, it's a better Veelox," smiled Aja.

That evening at dinner, as we were trying to sort out various awards, Alder announced that he would be departing for Denduron the next morning.

"It seems that things are under control here, and I do not think I will fit in on a territory with such strange and advanced technology," explained Alder.

"Well you were a big help, and if you ever need anything you can always call us," I said as I gave Alder a hug.

Because we had put Veelox back on the right path (the way things were meant to be if you will) the quigs were gone, though I bugged me to no end that Saint Dane hadn't fought harder to stop us, almost like he didn't care about Veelox because he had something bigger planned… but I'm getting off track. Anywho, we made our way to the soon-to-be not so abandoned subway tunnel and towards the flume; Alder gave us all one last goodbye before facing the flume and shouting "Denduron!" and with that the flume carried him away.

Clarisse, Charlie, since things are pretty much wrapped up here on Veelox I think I'll be coming home to Second Camp Half-Blood soon, I can't thank you guys enough for always being there for me and being the best acolytes in all of Halla. Who knows, maybe I can convince some of my fellow Travelers to come along with me, I've told them so much about you guys and I bet they'd love to meet the two of you.

Looking forward to seeing you guys in a few days,

Silena

End of Journal #5

**So Silena's adventure on Veelox has come to an end, but this fic is not yet done. For we have one last chapter to go, so tune in next to for the exciting conclusion, but know this readers, though this song is ending the story shall continue ;)**


	18. Chapter 18

Second Camp Half-Blood

"I sound nothing like that!" exclaimed Aja once the journal had ended.

"Well I didn't exactly think you'd be watching my journals!" countered Silena.

"Okay so how did you guys get from saving Veelox to Aja getting shot and having to come here?" asked Clarisse.

"One day we were all getting another award and Aja was giving a speech, but then there were three shot fired in rapid succession and she slumped forward and blood started trickling from her mouth. We did see who shot her so whoever they are they got away, but Aja was hurt and I knew that we had to get her help, but the medical situation on Veelox is much to be desired since most people with medical knowledge had been in Lifelight for so long," said Silena.

"And even though I was just barley holding onto consciousness I managed to hold it together long enough that when Silena rushed over to me I told her "Silena… something I never told you… I did know my mom because she's… Athena." After that it kind of got blurry, but I remember when that sweet nectar touched my tongue and it revitalized me. Speaking of which, I could use a refill," said Aja.

"Chiron's probably gonna cut you off, eat too much ambrosia or drink too much nectar and you'll burn up," said Beckendorf.

"Then send her refill to me, I bet it taste like sniggers!" said Spader.

"No! You're mortal, one drop and you'll burn up instantly."

"Well that might not be entirely true," said Gunny from the door way.

"What do mean?" asked Silena.

"Well Shorti I bean thinkin' that us Travelers aren't exactly normal are we? Think about it, have you ever been sick a day in your life?"

Silena frowned at this, "Well know that I think about it no. What about you guys?"

"Not that I can recall," said Aja.

"That's a no spinney-do… thought I'd give you a nickname spinney-fish!" said Spader.

"And neither have I. And think of how fast we heal, how we can heal one another, and if you've been reading his journals you must have read about how Bobby brought Loor back to life. Now I wouldn't go tastin' any of the food of the gods, even though it does look mighty tasty, but the point is us Travelers aren't like the other people of our territories and sub-territories," said Gunny.

Silena, Aja, and Spader looked at their hands as if expecting them to have changed, but they were the same as always.

"Gunny you're seriously freaking me out here," said Silena.

"Well I didn't mean to do that Shorti, but I tell you what I think, I truly believe that we were chosen for a reason to do this Traveler stuff. Each of us is just and average Joe or Jane from our native territory or sub-territory, but for whatever reason we have been chosen, and I think that whoever chose us did so for just that reason, and if we've been chosen by some great cosmic chess master then maybe that means there's an anti-Saint Dane workin' on our side."

"Oh Gunny you know just how to… I feel dizzy," said Silena, she then staggered to her feet and took a few steps before collapsing on the floor and blacking out.

When Silena regained consciousness she found herself standing… she wasn't exactly sure where. It kind of looked like a cross between a tropical beach resort and an ancient Greek city, but what puzzled her most was the sky; the sky was thick with rich multi-colored rainbow clouds that swirled about, never seeming to dissipate.

"Beautiful aren't they?"

Silena jumped at the voice, when she turned in its direction she found a man who was wearing a long brown coat, had longish shoulder-length hair, and looked like he hadn't had a shave in a while.

"And you would be…"

"Tilton, Press Tilton."

"Oh my gods, you're Bobby's uncle! Wait, aren't you supposed to be dead?" asked Silena.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio. Than are dreamt of in your philosophy," replied Press.

"English please!"

"Well I can't exactly explain that to you now, you're just not ready, but I told Bobby that one day I'd see him and all the Travelers again, and that'll be the day it'll all make sense."

"So I'm guessing that rules out explain where we are?"

"Now that I can tell you, somewhat. What you see around you is Solara; it's the essence of mankind, all of our achievements, everything we are, all manifested here," explained Press.

"Okay I've known you for like five seconds and you've already lost me," said Silena.

Press smiled, "Well I'd be surprised if you grasped it at all. Like I said before this is a lot to take in and you're just not ready for some of the revelations I could throw at you, but there is some things you can grasp."

"Like what?"

"Well for example the way you see Solara as you see it is because this is a form you find pleasing, and Solara presents itself to everyone in the form they find most appealing."

"Kind of like a Lifelight jump?"

"Well sort of, but Solara was a major inspiration for Dr. Zetlin."

"So why have you brought me to Solara, and more importantly where is Solara, and…"

"Slow down Silena, you're gonna kill me with the questions!" laughed Press. "Well as far as where we are let's just say we're on the edges of Halla, the edges of reality if you will."

"You're losing me," said Silena in a sing-son voice.

"Then we should move on to why you're here, but I think they'd be better to explain that than I would."

Silena turned to where Press was motioning and gasped with surprise, because standing in front of her were her parents.

"Mom! Dad! Oh my gods, it's really you!" exclaimed Silena as she rushed over and hugged her parents.

"Oh Silena you've made me so proud of you! Oh you were so brave!" said Aphrodite as she hugged Silena, but a nagging question crept into Silena's mind as she did.

"Wait a minute, this isn't a Lifelight jump is it?"

"No sugarplum, this is actually happening," said Mr. Beauregard as he hugged Silena.

"Okay, so what are you guys doing here?" asked Silena.

"Because we don't have much time and you won't be seeing me again for a while, but you will see your mother and she will guide you on the journey you have just now begun. And though you may not be able to see me I want you to know that I will be watching you, and you have made me prouder than you can ever imagine," said Mr. Beauregard.

"Dad you're saying this like… oh my gods, did something happen to you?"

"No, no, I'm fine. It's just… well this is really something your Traveler friends are better at explaining, but Silena, don't be mad at Clarisse and Beckendorf, they were only trying to protect you."

"Mom… what does he mean?"

"Oh Silena, if I only I could tell you, but you must find the answers for yourself, because this is the way it was meant to be," said the goddess of love.

"You have to go now don't you?" asked Silena.

"Not quite yet, not before they get a word with you."

Silena looked to where her mother was gesturing and saw two figures emerging from behind one of the ancient Greek buildings. The first looked like Spader, though a bit older, and the second was a klee that bore a resemblance to Kasha.

"Hobey Ho Silena! Me name's Benn Spader, you know me son Vo Spader," said the Spader-looking guy.

"And I am Seegen, Kasha is my daughter," said the klee.

"You were the Travelers from Cloral and Eelong before Spader and Kasha weren't you?"

"That is correct. I don't have much time Silena, but I want you to tell my Kasha that the answer is everyday, she'll know what I'm talking about. Tell her also that though it seems hopeless the flume on Eelong is repairing itself and she'll be home before she knows it," said Seegen.

"And I want you to tell me little spinney fish that I couldn't be more proud of him for all he's done. Oh, and tell him that he'll be buying the sniggers," winked Benn Spader.

"Anything else I should know?" asked Silena.

"Only that it's time for you to go," said Press.

"But I don't want to! I just got here, and I'm with my family for the first time in like… gods, I can't even remember how long!" sobbed Silena.

"But you're not alone sweetheart, you've been with your family all along," said Aphrodite as she slowly stroked Silena's hair.

"Oh mommy, it's nice having to watch over me and guide me, but it's not the same as having you and daddy here with me for real."

"You have your siblings in Aphrodite cabin, but you also have a family in the other Travelers. Family isn't just the blood in your veins, it's the people who love and care about you regardless of relation," said Press.

"And you know what; I think you were braver than those annoying Hunters of Artemis. I'd like to see them go thru what you did and come out alive!" said Aphrodite.

"When will I see you guys again?" asked Silena.

"You'll see us soon enough," replied Mr. Beauregard cryptically.

"Time to go Silena. Just close your eyes and you'll be back at Camp Half-Blood, and if you see Bobby tell him I say hi," said Press.

Silena wished so desperately that she could have just a little more time in the strange realm of Solara, just a bit more time to be with her parents, but she knew she had no choice but to accept what she had been told and close her eyes. When Silena woke up again she found herself in the bed next to Aja's in the infirmary with a crowd of people surrounding her.

"She's awake!" said Kasha.

"Give her some space!" said Clarisse.

"You gave us quite a scare there Silena," said Chiron.

"I saw him, Bobby's uncle Press, and my parents they were there, and so were Spader and Kasha's dads, and…"

"Breath Silena! Breath!" shouted Aja from the other end of the room.

After Silena calmed down she told everyone of the strange and wondrous realm of Solara, and of the people (and goddess and klee) that she had encountered. When she finished everyone's jaws were practically on the ground.

"Hey Kasha, what did your dad mean by every day?" asked Silena.

"I…it was something I'd been wondering if he died, I wondered… if I make him proud. I guess I know now," said Kasha as tears of joy rolled down her face.

"Next time I'm at Grolo's I'll raise I pint of sniggers in me dad's honor," smiled Spader with a fiery pride is his eyes.

"But what about Solara, what is it exactly?" asked Beckendorf.

"Yeah Chiron, you know more about this Traveler stuff than any of us," said Silena.

"I'm afraid that in all the time I knew Press he never mentioned anything about such a place as Solara, but perhaps you would know Aja?"

"Okay, how did you know?"

"I've been training demigods for over 3,000 years, I know when they're hiding something," smiled Chiron with a certain twinkle in his eyes.

Aja took a deep breath before continuing, "The night before Pendragon brought Beckendorf to Veelox my mom came to me in a dream, she took me to Solara and gave the same cryptic explanation of it. After we just had a little time together it was time for me to leave, and when I woke up I found an olive-green envelope on my nightstand. It said you are not alone; I didn't understand it at the time, but the night before Silena showed up on Veelox I had a dream of my mom on Olympus and she said those same four words, you are not alone. I finally get it now; she was telling me that I'm not the only demigod Traveler."

"Okay so you and I are demigod Travelers, and Charlie nearly was one too, do you think there could be more? If not the known Travelers then maybe the new ones from the sub-territories then?" asked Silena.

"If this has taught us anything it's that Halla is a grander and stranger place than any of us could have possibly conceived; for just as a tree bears fruit only when it is time, perhaps we too shall find the answers in due time," said Chiron.

After spending the night in the infirmary Silena was discharged with a clean bill of health, and after a few days and some ambrosia and nectar rations, so was Aja. Since Kasha couldn't return to Eelong Chiron arranged for her to stay at Camp Half-Blood (or rather, Second Camp Half-Blood) for as long as she needed. Gunny turned down the other Travelers offer of returning to his native First Earth in favor of staying at the camp to help out (and keep an eye on Kasha). After dinner one night Silena was talking with Beckendorf, Clarisse, Aja, and Spader when she dropped the bomb they'd all been dreading.

"Soooooo I was thinking, now that all this Traveler stuff has calmed down, maybe tomorrow we could go see daddy and fill him in on this fabulous adventure thru time and space!" said Silena without a care in the world.

Beckendorf and Clarisse shared an uneasy look that they then exchanged with Aja and Spader.

"It's an awful lot to throw at him, you sure he can handle it?" asked Clarisse uneasily.

"Wellllllll he accepts all this stuff about Greek mythology and demigods being real, accepting Travelers and Halla shouldn't be too hard for him," said Silena.

"Would you like me and Spader to come with you guys?" asked Aja.

"Well I know I said that dad can handle a lot, but it might be just a bit soon for him to meet fellow Travelers."

"What about acolytes? Mark and Courtney might be helpful for explaining things… and moral support," said Beckendorf.

"I guess they could be helpful, let's call them with the ring!"

Using Clarisse's acolyte ring the trio were able to send a message to Mark, who then messaged them back that he and Courtney would be happy to accompany them to the city. After breakfast the next morning Silena, Beckendorf, and Clarisse loaded into one of the camp's vans and took off for New York City; Clarisse and Beckendorf tried to release some of the mounting tension within them by talking about the latest happenings around the camp with Silena, but it did little to calm their frayed nerves. When they got to New York the trio met Mark and Courtney at Grand Central.

"Hey! It's the big day!" beamed Silena excitedly.

"I say it is… ow!" said Mark as Courtney elbowed him.

"What he's trying to say is we're here for you Silena, no matter what," said Courtney with a worried look in her eyes.

"Well that good to know! Now come on, shouldn't keep daddy waiting!" said Silena, as chipperly as ever.

Nobody really said much as they walked along 5th avenue; that is except for Silena, but she stopped mid-sentence when they came to the empty patch of dirt that used to be.

"W-what happened!" exclaimed Silena, barely comprehending the sight before her.

"Oh wow! When did that happen? That most defiantly wasn't like that when me and Beckendorf were here last week!" said Clarisse, over defensively.

"She needs the truth Clarisse… and I'm gonna turn it over to Courtney," said Beckendorf, looking like he wanted to vomit.

Courtney shot him a look before putting her arm around Silena, "I remember when this happened to Bobby, he had that same expression on his face."

"What do you mean?"

"Silena… when a Traveler realizes his or her destiny as a Traveler all records of their existence disappear; that includes their home, their belonging, and… their family."

Silena looked like she had just been punched in the stomach, and she kind of felt like that too. At first Silena just stood there in stunned silence, but then she took off running down the street, with everyone else in hot pursuit.

"She's going to her dad's apartment, I just know it!" said Beckendorf.

"I don't believe you! You're lying!" yelled Silena over shoulder.

"But you're going in the precise direction of your dad's apartment!"

"No, not about that! About my dad being gone!"

"Didn't you… read… Bobby's…journals?" huffed Mark, nearly out of breath.

"She's in shock Mark, denial only natural," said Courtney, not even breaking a sweat.

True to Beckendorf's speculation, Silena burst into her dad's apartment building and took the stairs two at a time (which was quite a feat considering she was wearing heels) until she was on the right floor… and staring at the blank space where her father's apartment should have been; not long after that everyone else caught up with her, Silena took one look at them before collapsing to her knees in defeat.

"Guys… I feel like I just found out there's not a Santa Claus," sobbed Silena.

"There's not a Santa Claus?" asked Mark; Courtney elbowed him to shut up.

"I've seen this happen so many times, it's never pretty."

Everyone turned in the direction of the voice to find… Bobby Pendragon standing in the middle of the hallway wearing colorful tropical looking cloths.

"So how long you been standing there?" asked Courtney.

"Not that long… I think, kind of hard to tell with the way time flows between territories," said Bobby.

"I'm a half-orphan, my dad's gone, but I still got my mom… not that she's around much," sobbed Silena.

Bobby put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her with sympathetic eyes, "When this happened to me I had no choice but to keep going, in retrospect that was the best thing for me because it taught me to keep enduring, because you don't know what the tide's gonna bring next. But you're different, take as long as you need to handle this, I've already sent Spader and Aja on an assignment, and when you're ready to rejoin the Travelers on our mission to save Halla we're ready for you."

Silena spent the next week or so in a deep depression that seemed endless. Chiron let her sleep in the big house, because once word got out that she was back after being missing for a week the camper flooded her with a thousand questions, and Chiron thought it best she be left alone. Silena spent those days steeped in sadness, lying in bed all day because she lacked the will to do anything else; Clarisse and Beckendorf brought her meals (which she barely touched) and sat with her so that she'd know that she still had people her cared about her even in all the confusion she was going thru. Chiron, Gunny, Kasha, and even Mark and Courtney visited her often, but Silena showed no signs of improvement no matter what they did; but all that change one day when Beckendorf was sitting with her.

"Charlie," whispered Silena softly.

"Yes Silena," said Beckendorf.

"I don't blame you for what you did, I probably would have done the same thing if you were the Traveler and I was the acolyte."

Then Silena actually sat up for the first time in day and petted a spot of the bed for Beckendorf to sit next to her.

"That means a lot to me," said Beckendorf.

Silena sighed, "I've accepted my destiny as a Traveler. I don't like, but I accept it as part of who I am."

"That's good," said Beckendorf, not wanting to overdo it.

Silena gave a small smile at this, the first smile she'd given in days, "Soooooo you wouldn't happen to have any food would you? Because I'm seriously starving!"

Beckendorf smiled as he pulled out a box that kind of looked like a Chinese takeout box, "I had Mark bring these just in case. Garden Poultry fires and a Mountain Dew, the greatest combo in Halla!"

"Oh Charlie I am so kissing after this!" said Silena between mouthfuls of fries and gulps of Mountain Dew.

After she finished the last of the precious fires Silena did just that; Beckendorf was so happy he had to pinch himself to make sure he hadn't died and gone to the Isle of the Blest.

Silena smiled happily at this, but then grew very interested in ice in her glass of Mountain Dew, "Saint Dane said that I wasn't going to live to see the turning point of Second Camp Half-Blood, well he called it just Camp Half-Blood but… what do you think he meant?"

"If your adventure on Veelox is anything to judge by I'd say he wrong, dead wrong," said Beckendorf as he held Silena close and stroked her hair.

For a while they just stayed like that, both of them savoring the moment, a moment they might not be able to share again for a while if Silena resumed her Traveler duties. After she finished hugging Beckendorf, Silena showered, picked out her outfit, and did her hair and makeup (which, being a daughter of Aphrodite, took her over an hour to complete); finally satisfied with her appearance Silena was ready to face the camp again. Silena and Beckendorf found Clarisse teaching Kasha how to play volleyball, or rather Clarisse and Kasha arguing at the volleyball court.

"For the last time this is volleyball, not foraging!" shouted Clarisse.

"I can't pounce it, bite it, slash it, how am I supposed to attack the ball!" snapped Kasha.

"You're not supposed to attack it you're supposed to hit it to the other side like this!" said Clarisse as she sent the volleyball sailing into the distance.

"I got it Clarisse!" called Silena as she chased after the volleyball.

Silena followed where the ball had sailed thru some bushes, and to her surprise the volleyball sailed out of the bushes and she caught it.

"Snazzy-do! Looks like someone's feeling better!" called a familiar voice from the bushes.

A huge smile broke out on Silena's face when Spader, Aja, and an African-American looking guy who was about their age, walked out of the bushes.

"Spader! Aja! Who's your friend?"

"Siry Remudi, Traveler from Ibara, and you must be the Silena I've been hearing so much about," said the African-American looking guy.

"Aw, were you guys coming to check up on me?" asked Silena as she batted her eyelashes.

"Well… maybe just a little," smiled Aja. "So we were kind of wondering if you were up for another mission, you might want to take a look at this."

Aja was holding yellow box with a purple bow tied to it, also on the books was a card that said: _To Silena, love S.D._

"Saint Dane!"

"There's more, take a look at the card," said Siry.

_Riggity, Riggity, white. Come and spend the night, well play some games, some mild, some tame, and if you will you might._

_Signed, your host on Quillan, Veego and LaBerge._

"Isn't Quillan one of the territories Saint Dane won?" asked Silena.

"As of our adventure on Veelox it's the only territory Saint Dane's won, but Veego and LaBerge aren't from Quillan, they're from Veelox!" said Aja.

"What?"

"They were originally phaders that Saint Dane brought to Quillan to run those barbaric Quillan games, but they were on Veelox recently, because Veego's the one who shot me, and LaBerge was with her!"

"Well then what are we waiting for, let's go!" said Silena.

"If Pendragon could see you now," said Spader as he smiled and shook his head.

Silena gathered Clarisse, Beckendorf, Gunny, Kasha, and Chiron together in the Big House for an impromptu Traveler meeting.

"But you can't go, you just got back!" objected Clarisse.

"I so wish I could stay Clarisse, but there are people out there on the other territories of Halla that need my help… and of course the help of my fellow Travelers as well," said Silena, adding the last bit after Aja and Siry shot her a look.

"I'm afraid she's right Clarisse, this is the way things were meant to be," said Chiron.

"When will guys be back?" asked Beckendorf.

"That's hard to say; this isn't getting people to kick a bad habit like on Veelox, this is toppling an oppressive corporation that's taken over an entire world. To say the least we won't accomplish it overnight," said Aja.

"How soon will we leave?" asked Silena.

"The sooner the better, we can't bring anything with us so not like we need to pack. And no offense Kasha, but considering how much the people we pulled out of Lifelight freaked out when they saw you, maybe you better sit this one out," said Aja.

"No taken, I was probably gonna ask to anyway. You know, get my head back on and figure out where I stand?" said Kasha.

"You might want to stay here too Gunny, Quillan's no territory for old men," said Spader.

"Old, who said I was old?" laughed Gunny. "But I see your point Spader. Besides, somebody's gotta keep an eye on Kasha."

Silena desperately wanted to spend more time at the camp with Beckendorf and Clarisse, but she knew two things: 1) Travelers were named so for a reason, and 2) what she and her fellow Travelers were doing was the way things were meant to be.

"You know, I think I've finally figured out why Bobby says 'and so we go'," said Silena as everyone stood in front of the flume.

"And why is that?" asked Chiron in his kind and gentle way.

"It's his way of saying that no matter what the world throws at him he's ready for it, when things seem lost he keeps going, because you'll never know what's gonna be around that next corner. I think he might be onto something there."

"So we're all clear on the plan then? We go to Cloral to get in a little training time, and then it's off to Quillan to compete in the Quillan Games," said Aja.

"Hey would it be alright if we swung by Third Earth first, there's… something I need Patrick's help with," said Silena.

"Sure thing, if it weren't for you Veelox would still be doomed," said Aja.

"I'll be writing," said Silena to Beckendorf and Clarisse.

"We'll be reading," they said in unison.

"And so we go," whispered Silena to herself. Then in I triumphant and confident voice she called out "Third Earth!" and at her command the gray stone walls of the flume turned to see-thru crystal, and the invisible energy pull her, Spader, Aja, and Siry into the flume and off to their next adventure.

**And so fic has come full circle, but the story is not yet done. Well first of all I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed this story, you guys are the best! And I know there's still a lot of loose ends to tie-up, but rest assured I am worked on a sequel under the working title of PenJackson 2: Silena the Great. And I've got ideas for at least two more sequels after that (haven't figured out titles for them yet), though I'm working on some other writing endeavors as well, but I will see this thru to the end, so in the words of Bobby Pendragon (and as of this fic, Silena Beauregard), and so we go :)**


End file.
